For the Shippers
by Miki Mechetta
Summary: (High School AU: Sequel to For the Kids) Aster's in love. Jack can't sleep, Nick's oblivious, Sandy's amused, and Ana's about ready to kill them all.
1. The Curse of a Crush

Author's Note:**_ This is a sequel to my story, For the Kids, go read that first!_** So, I promised you guys a JackxAster (aka Jaster) fic and here we go! P.S. Don't get too excited by the rating, I'm just being careful.

* * *

Aster stepped back from the canvas and gave an appreciative grin before turning to look at the extremely boarded female sprawled across his bed, "What do you think?"

Ana didn't even bother to look at the painting. "I think you should call Jack, he actually likes watching you paint."

A crimson flush stole over tan skin and Aster looked away from his smirking companion, "Jack's busy."

Ana sat up and crossed her arms, her smirk transforming into a frown. "Aster, what's going on? Did you two fight or something?"

"Nothing's going on! I… just drop it, okay?" Aster hunched his shoulders, pointedly ignoring the pitying gaze of his blonde companion, and returned to painting. With a sigh, Ana pushed herself off of the bed and came to stand behind him. She wrapped her thin arms around his torso and leaned her head against his back, feeling him reluctantly relaxing into her touch.

"Aster, come on, tell me what's wrong?"

He removed his brush from the canvas and struck it into a cup of water, gently swirling it around in the clear liquid, watching as the paint created swirls of frosty blue that turned his traitorous thoughts to the captivating eyes of a certain albino. Once the brush was clean he removed it from the water and tenderly dried it on a rag before whispering, "Alright."

Ana let go of him and returned to her seat on the bed, patting the spaced beside her expectantly. Aster sunk down onto the spot and rested his head against his right hand, tilting it to the side so that he could look at her. After a moment's hesitation he nervously began, "I thought I could control myself around him, but then New Year's happened and now I think he knows. I just can't… I don't want to… oh, you know!"

Ana had stopped listening at the words "New Year's," focusing instead on trying to figure out what event at the Bunnymund New Year's party could have caused Aster to think Jack knew about his little crush. She couldn't think of anything he'd done in front of Jack other than, wait, "Oh you've got to be kidding me. That's what has you acting so weird?"

* * *

Aster's room, normally the picture of pristine neatness, was a mess of scattered clothing and he still didn't know what to wear. With a frustrated groan, the Australian teen slumped down amidst the chaos and slowly ran his hand down his face. This was not going well.

The banging of little hands pounding against his door drew his gaze away from the mess as a toddler's voice cried out, "Aster! Aster! Sophie in!"

The teen smiled, stood up, and pulled the door open before scooping his baby sister into his arms. Sophie let out a happy squeal of delight and wrapped her chubby arms around his neck. Once he'd been properly hugged, Aster deposited the toddler back on the ground. "Sorry, Soph, I need to finish getting dressed before I can play."

Sophie tilted her head to the side and giggled, "Aster need pants."

"Yeah, I know ya lil' ankle-bitter. I need a shirt, too." He replied absentmindedly as he scanned the clothing warzone before him.

Before he could choose another outfit to reject, Sophie was rushing into the mess and grabbing a pair of jeans. She examined the garment for a moment and then held them out to her brother, "Here!"

Aster looked at the jeans and shrugged. Why not, it wasn't like he was going to be able to pick an outfit by himself. Once the they'd been pulled over his lanky form and properly buttoned, Aster crouching down to his baby sister's level, "Okay, what else, Soph? It's gotta look really good on me."

The little girl nodded, clearly understanding the seriousness of her task, and began to dig through the piles of clothing. After rejecting several of the paint splattered t-shirts that dominated his wardrobe she finally held up a wrinkled, hunter green, button down shirt that was miraculously unaffected by his artistic pursuits. He took the shirt from her, mildly amused. It seemed like Sophie's latest obsession with dress-ups actually had its uses. Then he frowned. A two year old was doing a better job of dressing him in three minutes than he had in the last hour. How pathetic was that?

"Emerson Aster Bunnymund, what happened in here?" He started lightly and turned to find his mother was standing in the doorway, staring in shock at the state of his room.

"Just trying to look my best for the party, mom."

Sophie made her way through the clutter to her mother and hugged the woman's leg before looking up at her with wide, green eyes. "Sophie help!"

Mrs. Bunnymund picked up the child and nuzzled her nose, "I bet you did, sweetie. Now you're going to come with me and get all dressed up while Aster cleans up this rat's nest."

Sophie giggled as their mother gave her son a pointed look and left the room.

Once they were gone, Aster sighed and began to pick up the mess.

* * *

"Don't you look nice," Ana commented as she entered Aster's freshly cleaned room. "One might even think you're trying to impress someone."

Aster blushed, refusing to look at her as he stared at his reflection, trying to simultaneously ignore her and decide if his hair was neat enough. Maybe it was a bad idea to go without one of his bandanas; Jack might notice something was up. That thought made him sigh in annoyance. Bloody hell, when had he started acting like a love struck puppy? He thought he had this crush thing under control. Apparently not.

Ana smiled at his obvious nervousness as she moved to stand by her friend's side and took his hand, dragging him away from the mirror, "Come on, stop worry, silly. I'm sure your Romeo will be here and looking for you soon enough. Unless you were hoping for some alone time and wanted to wait for him back here?"

Aster's blush deepened, "Ana, you promised."

"I promised not to tell anyone, but I made no such promise about making you blush."

"Not tell anyone what? Aster, have you been keeping secrets?" The bickering pair stopped their feud and look towards the source of the familiar voice. Leaning against the wall of the hallway they'd just entered was Jack Frost, Aster's crush. The white haired teen had obviously dressed up for the event, trading his normal outfit of ratty jeans and a hoodie for formal black pants, a dark-blue button-down shirt, and a formal, black jacket.

Aster thought he looked incredible.

"Only the secret that he's a total let down at parties!" Ana replied quickly, glaring mockingly at the teen whose hand was clasped in her own. "Look at this, I'm having to drag him out of his room!"

Jack laughed and pushed off the wall, grabbing Aster's free hand in his pale one, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Well then, allow me to offer a helping hand."

Ana grinned at the albino as Aster's blush deepened and, together, they pulled the Australian down the hall towards the sound of voices and music.

* * *

The three teen's plan to sit around and gorge themselves on cookies in the kitchen was quickly sidetracked by the appearance of Sophie and Baby, Ana's little sister, who begged Jack and the others to come and play with them. A demand the trio found hard to resist due to the power of wide eyes and pouting lips.

"So, what are we playing?" Jack asked, leaning down so he was on the children's level.

"House!" Baby decided and Sophie readily agreed.

Jack nodded sagely, treating the decree with the upmost respect, "An excellent choice, Baby. What are our roles?"

After a moment's consideration, Baby pointed at Jack and proclaimed "You get to be the daddy!" just as Sophie pointed at Aster and cried, "Aster daddy!"

An argument immediately began. "Jack should be the daddy, I said it first and playing house was my idea!"

"No, Aster daddy!"

Before things could get ugly Jack moved over to Aster's side and wrapped his arms around the Australian's neck, leaning his head against the taller teen's shoulder, "That's okay girls, we can both be the daddy."

Shocked, Aster immediately shook Jack off and stepped back, staring at him with a growing blush as the little girls giggled.

Jack laughed along with them and didn't comment on the action, but he didn't try to touch Aster again all night and had given his friend several odd glances.

* * *

"Aster," Ana spoke in a comforting voice that just made Aster feel like a child, "I doubt Jack even remembers that you shrugged him off like that."

"You do, though!"

"First off, I'm a girl and we pay attention to tiny details. Secondly, even if he does remember, he's a boy and that means he's at least somewhat emotionally stunted and has no clue how to pick up on subtle cues. Thirdly, on the off chance he both remembers and actually realizes what's going on you can always make it all better and ask him out."

Aster shook his head and crossed his arms. "No, no way. I am not degrading myself like that."

The motherly Ana was suddenly replaced by a fierce one. "Degrading yourself? Seriously?"

She abruptly stood up and stalked to the door, but stopped with her hand on the knob, "Aster, you're my best friends and I'll listen to you, but you need to bring that ego down a few pegs if you ever want Jack. And next time you want someone to watch you paint for three hours, ask the one person we know who actually likes doing it."

Then she was gone and Aster was falling back onto his bed, letting out a groan. Ask Jack out? Not bloody likely.


	2. A Stolen Place

Aster let out a tired yawn and watched sadly as Ana rushed along the sidewalk well ahead of him. He could have caught up to her easily if he wanted to, but she had made it very clear that she didn't want to walk with him today, a thought that made his frown deepen. He hadn't realized she was _this_ mad at him. When was the last time he'd walked to school without her that didn't involve one of them being sick? He honestly couldn't remember it happening before and not having her by his side felt wrong. Was what he'd said yesterday really that bad? It had it be to get this kind of response. As the school came into view he began to mentally rehearse the apology he knew was probably needed for her to forgive him. He just had to figure out what exactly had caused the offence.

As he reached the edge of the building's parking lot his mental musings about appropriate apologies were cut short and he realized that, far from being caused by anger, this morning's events had a much more sinister origin. Ana was getting into the passenger's side of Nick's jeep, Aster's spot. Letting out a growl of annoyance, he ran across the parking lot to side of the cherry red vehicle and grabbed the passenger door's handle, but she'd locked it. He glared in at her through the window, snarling when she gave him a smug wink. He could see Nick laughing in the seat beside her. This was not fair.

"Ana, get the bloody hell outta my seat!"

She shook her head and pointed to the back of the car, causing Aster to let out another low growl. He pulled at the handle once more before giving Nick a pleading look, but the other boy merely shook his head in befuddled amusement. Just because it was traditionally Aster's spot didn't mean that he was guaranteed it. Ana had claimed the seat fair and square. With a final tug followed by a defeated sigh, Aster opened the car's backdoor and grumpily slid into Ana's usual spot beside an amused Sandy.

"I hope you know you're only going to be able to pull this off once."

Ana merely grinned wider as a familiar teen with a head of snowy white hair came into view at the far corner of the building and made his way towards the parking lot.

Aster saw him too and slumped down in his seat. He could deal with being around Jack pretty well, but being this close? He was going to kill Ana.

* * *

Jack Frost was lost in a world of his own, his thoughts revolving around a rather upsetting phone call he'd received the previous evening that had led to a rather more disturbing nightmare than usual and barely three hours of sleep. He was so wrapped up in gloomy thoughts that he didn't notice the strange adjustment to the sleigh's traditional seating arrangement until he opened the door, ready to greet Ana, and found an embarrassed Australian in her place.

"Morning Jack!" Ana called from her stolen seat as the new arrival treated his female friend to a curious glance before returning the greeting and climbing into the car.

"I'm not complaining," he said, with another confused glance between the scowling teen at his side and the grinning one in the passenger's seat, "but why's Aster sitting in the back?"

"Because he's had his special privileges revoked," Ana replied, winking at Jack while Aster growled out the words, "Don't ask."

Jack chuckled, deciding he probably didn't want to know, "Alright, forget I asked."

Then he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, bringing his hand up to cover his face as an enormous yawn escaped through his pale lips.

"Up late reading, again?" Ana asked as Jack treated her to a tired smile once the yawn was finished.

"Yeah, something like that. Just couldn't get a story off my mind." _Namely the story of my impending doom._

Sensing that there was more to the tale than Jack was letting on; Sandy tilted his head to the side and gave his frost eyed friend a pointed look. Jack pursed his lips and refrained from glaring at the diminutive teen. Trust Sandy to call him out on a half-truth. Why did Jack even bother trying to lie around him anymore?

"Okay, so maybe I wasn't exactly reading anything."

Now he had the attention of the entire gang.

"I," Jack stopped and looked around at their curious faces before bringing his hand to rest at the nape of his neck. As he nervously fiddled with the short, white hair that grew there he averted his eyes and continued, sounding more than a little abashed, "I got a call from the Burgess Police department yesterday."

He stopped talking, trying to figure out what to say next, but Sandy had already realized out where this was going. The golden haired teen mimed an image of a judge pounding down a gavel and the others quickly connected the dots.

"Oh," Ana looked troubled now, "You're going to have to go to the trial, aren't you?"

Jack glanced up at her for a second before looking back down at his jean covered legs and bobbing his head lightly. "Yeah, the video testimony idea was dismissed since I'm the star witness. Looks like I'll be seeing _him_ again a lot sooner than I'd hoped."

If anyone noticed the fact that Jack had avoided saying Pitch's name, they didn't mention it. Instead, Ana reached out and laid a gentle hand against Jack's knee, "Are you gonna be okay?"

A shrug and a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes formed the tired albino's halfhearted reply.

Ana desperately wanted to hug Jack and was suddenly regretting deciding to change places with Aster today. As another yawn caused Jack to close his eyes she gave her tan friend a pointed look, hoping that he would man up and do what she couldn't.

To her delight, the Australian took a deep breath and wrapped an arm around Jack, pulling the albino close. "You know we'll be there for you, mate."

Jack smiled at him, their eyes meeting, and Aster found himself fighting a blush as Nick added, "Anytime, anywhere, just say the word!"

Now Jack laughed, picking up the subtle reference and turning his gaze from Aster to the front of the car. "Thanks _Kim_, I think I'll be fine, it's just still sinking in."

Aster knew that was probably a lie. They'd all been hurt by Pitch, but Jack had been put through hell by the demented teen and he couldn't imagine what the idea of being forced to see Pitch again was doing to his crush. Then he realized he still had an arm draped over Jack's shoulders. In order to avoid yet another blush, he quickly removed the appendage from its perch and gave his crush a light punch on his shoulder, "Yeah, well, don't push it."

This time Jack's grin really did reach his eyes as gave Aster a mocking salute, "Yes sir, whatever you say."

Beaming at the sight of the two finally acting like they normally did, Ana decided to move the conversation on before either boy had a chance to clam up again, "In other news, I got a call from Mr. Kaufman last night."

The boys looked at her with interest. They hadn't heard much from the older man since the Christmas fair due to the busyness of the holidays.

Happy to have their attention, Ana continued, "The inspector finally came and examined the shed and it was officially declared structurally sound. That means we can clean it out and see what survived the fire whenever we want."

She continued before the boys' attitudes had time to sour with memories of the fire, "So I motion that we go this weekend and do it! Easter is only three months away now and that means we've gotta start getting ready for the Easter egg hunt, right Aster?"

The Australian grinned. "You better believe it!"

She smiled back and began to talk about the details. The four boys did their best to follow along as she listed their current fund balance, what supplies they had available, past attendance records, and any other data that she could think of that she deemed relevant until it was time to go to class.

* * *

Aster was busily doodling in his latest sketch pad ad munching on carrot sticks while he waited for the others to join him at lunch. As usual, Jack arrived first, their feet brushing together as he sat down across from the sketching artist. As soon as Aster felt that brief touch his heart began to pound. This was getting ridiculous; only their _shoes_ had touched. The thought made Aster glower and he began to sketch faster, not even paying attention to what he was doodling as he furiously tried to get his emotions in check.

Jack, who had initially planned on reading, didn't. He was far too busy watching Aster with a growing fascination. What in the world was the other teen drawing? He rarely saw Aster get so into his work when he was doodling.

Quietly, Jack got up from his seat and came to stand behind Aster, looking down at the doodle. The image made him smile. "Getting into the abstract, are we?"

Aster immediately returned to reality and looked at what he'd been drawing. A collection of random lines and circles covered the paper, forming the loose image of a human face. A distinctively male face. He mentally groaned, knowing exactly whose face had been on his mind as he sketched, but outwardly he only gave a noncommittal shrug. "Just trying something different. It's pretty stupid, though."

Then he tore out the page, crumpled in into a ball, and tossed it towards the nearby trashcan. Jack made a strange noise and grabbed the paper ball in midair, "Hey, I think it's neat! If you're just gonna toss it, I'll keep it."

As the albino began to smooth out the wrinkles in the paper, Aster could feel the blood rushing to his face. Not good. He quickly turned back to his sketch pad and resumed doodling before Jack had a chance to notice the flush, mumbling the words, "Sure, keep it, I don't care."

Jack's reply of, "I'll hang it up in my room," only made his blush worse and it took all of his self-control to get his face back to its normal shade by the time Jack had turned to look at him once again.


	3. A Slip of the Tongue

Nick had known Ana was stubborn, but not _this_ stubborn. This level of stubborn deserved some kind of prize or maybe medical treatment. All week long she'd arrived at school unusually early, often arriving before Nick, just to make sure she could take Aster's seat. He'd tried to ask both members of the battling duo what was up, but they'd both remained tight lipped about the source of their conflict and, eventually, Nick had stopped asking. Jack seemed just as clueless about the matter, but the way Sandy smiled when he looked at Ana sitting proudly in her new spot made Nick think that the smallest member of their group knew what was happening. Then again, when did Sandy even _not_ know what was going on?

Back to his main point: a week of getting up early was one thing, but this bordered on ridiculous. It was the day of their trip to Burgess and Ana was standing outside of Aster's house, waiting. Apparently she wasn't letting Aster have his spot back today, either.

He rolled down the widow and called out, "You know, I would have just picked you up first if you'd asked."

She put her hands on her hips, her face forming into a glare, "That is leaving far too much to chance. What if Aster called you and asked you to pick him up first instead? Now, unlock the car."

He shook his head, "No, not until you tell me what this is all about."

From his seat in the back of the car Sandy rolled his eyes. Wasn't it obvious?

Ana took her hands from her hips and crossed them over her chest, giving Nick a disbelieving look, "Frankly, if you haven't figured it out by now then I don't think you deserve to know."

Nick turned to ask Sandy what he thought of the matter, but the golden haired boy was nodding in agreement. Nick's face transformed into a pout as he unlocked the car, allowing Ana to climb in just as Aster rushed out of his front door crying, "Not again!"

He was too late. With a defeated sigh, Aster crawled into the back seat and slumped against the seat as Sandy giggled. He never should have challenged Ana's ability to permanently steal his seat. Maybe he could swipe it back when they got to the Overland's house. He hoped so, because he didn't think he could handle an hour long drive pressed up against secret crush.

* * *

They arrived at the Overlands just as Mrs. Overland was unloading several bags of groceries from her car. She smiled at the teens and waved, "Hello kids, I just got home. I was wondering if you'd already come and gone. I guess this means you haven't! Go right ahead inside, I think Jack's up in his room."

Ana turned around in her seat, grinning evilly, though maybe that was just Aster's interpretation of the look. He couldn't be sure. "Aster, why don't you go in and get Jack?"

Yep, definitely an evil look. "Why me?"

"Because if I go then you'll steal my seat."

Nick opened his mouth to ask why they didn't just call Jack, but then he caught sight of Sandy shaking his head. The meaning was clear: they should stay out of this one. Nick closed his mouth and nodded, leaving the duo to settle the argument themselves.

It ended rather quickly with an annoyed Aster throwing open the car door and starting to stalk towards the house while Ana grinned in triumph. The Australian teen stopped just long enough to grab a particularly heavy bag of groceries from the hands of a struggling Mrs. Overland and then marched in through the garage door to find Jack.

* * *

Why did Ana insist on doing this? Aster wondered as he set the groceries down on the kitchen table and walked up the staircase to the house's second floor. As he climbed the unfamiliar stairs he realized that he'd never been in Jack's room before. He also realized that he could hear the sound of someone singing as he climbed.

"_And I don't think I have ever seen a soul so in despair. So, if you want to talk the night through, guess who will be there._"

He followed the sound of the melodic tenor, which he now recognized as Jack's singing voice, to a door that was hanging slightly open about halfway down the hall. Aster came to a stop before it and peered into the room. Inside, Jack had on a pair of ear buds and was singing while twirling around the room and putting away a pile of laundry. Aster could feel his heart racing at the sight, he loved listening to Jack sing, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away and opened the door to its full width, drawing the albino's attention away from his chore with a cry of, "Hey, Jack!"

Jack turned from his task, stopped singing, and grinned, blushing lightly at being caught mid-song. "Oh, hey Aster! I didn't expect anyone to come up and get me. I figured you guys would just call me when you got here."

Aster almost swore. Trust Ana to distract him from the obvious course of action with an argument. He really needed to work on keeping his head when he got mad.

"But I'm glad you came up so I could show you!" Jack added, motioning to his wall.

Aster's picture was hanging up on the wall right next to Jack's bed. If Jack's singing had made his heart race, it was doing the hundred meter dash now. He didn't know what to say so he just grinned and did his best to keep from blush _again_.

"I've never had a poster before," Jack continued, motioning around the room. It was true. There wasn't much in the room that would indicate anyone lived here. The only personal touches Jack seemed to have added were a picture of his real family on the bedside table, a densely packed bookshelf by the door, and a very old looking laptop computer sitting closed on his desk.

"Why not?" Aster asked, sudden curiosity giving him back control of his mouth. The jungle green walls of his own room were covered with pictures of his homeland and an assortment of prints from his favorite artists.

Jack merely shrugged and walked towards the doorway. "There aren't many posters for books and I've never been much of a decorator."

As the two teens made their way down the stairs Aster asked, "Don't you have a favorite TV show or movie, though?"

Jack shook his head. "The Overlands don't have a TV. They're not big fans of technology."

Aster laughed, "Yeah, but you've still seen movies, though."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and stopped to let Jack put on his shoes, "At school, sure."

"Don't you ever go to the movies?" Aster sounded shocked.

Jack thought about it as he finished tying his left sneaker before replying, "Not really. I never knew what was coming and, well, I didn't have anyone to go with so I never bothered. I think the last movie I saw in a theater was Madagascar."

Shoes tied, Jack hopped to his feet and headed out to the waiting sleigh, leaving Aster to recover from his minor shock and follow after him. The artist caught up just as Jack was opening the jeep's door and, without thinking, he asked, "Well, do you wanna go and see a movie with me, then?"

The rest of the gang stared at him, Ana looking absolutely thrilled, but Jack didn't notice any of this. He had already turned back to face Aster, grinning happily "Sure, it's a date. You can introduce me to the wonders of modern cinema!"

And now everyone _really_ thought he'd just asked Jack out. Great.


	4. That Damn Smile

None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for that ruddy smile. Sure, Aster had always known Jack was cute, but that hadn't mattered. Boyish charms did _not_ make up for years of pranks and mischief. They especially didn't make up for the events of the previous Christmas where Jack and Pitch had almost destroyed all of the props he'd spent weeks designing and painting. Then Aster had learned about Jack's past and he'd found himself starting to care about the albino. Suddenly, he wanted to get to know Jack, to make him feel welcome. Maybe the crush had started then, but he didn't think so. He knew the moment he'd realized he had one, though. It was the first time Jack had smiled at him, _really_ smiled. There was something about that damn smile that made Aster's head spin.

He'd done a good job of hiding the crush at first, of pushing it to the side and just being Jack's friend, but then Jack had gone missing. That was the night Aster had realized this pounding in his chest might mean more than a little crush. A lot more.

After they'd found Jack and gotten him to the hospital the Australian teen had gone home and collapsed on his bed while fighting back the urge to punch something or collapse into a fit of tears. He was so afraid Jack was never going to open his eyes. By the time Jack woke up Aster knew he was totally and completely, one hundred percent, head-over-heels in love with Jack Frost.

He wasn't pleased with that fact either. He'd spent the next few days convincing himself that this was just a phase. Jack was merely a good friend and that was all they'd ever be. Jack had enough problems of his own without having to deal with a sloppy confession of Aster's blossoming feelings. He'd repeated these thoughts over and over until he almost had himself convinced that they were true. It had worked pretty well, too. He'd still had to fight the occasional blush, like when Jack taught him how to ice skate, but he was content to be Jack's friend and leave it at that. Then Ana happened.

They'd been walking home from school the Monday after the Christmas fair when the blonde had asked him, "Are you gonna ask Jack out now that everything's starting to die down or did you two already talk about it when you were painting those booths?"

Aster still wasn't sure how to describe the sound he'd made when she said this. It was something between a very manly squeak and the word huh. As he'd stood there like a deer in the headlights Ana had begun to laugh. She didn't stop laughing until he was bright red and stammering out denials, but it had done no good. She knew and, with that, Aster's carefully constructed world of denial had crumbled.

Something about Ana knowing had made his secret feelings startlingly real. Suddenly he was fighting blushes and stammering every time Jack was around. This was made worse by the fact that Jack had decided to hang out at the Bunnymund house as much as possible over winter break. The only thing Aster had figured out that could keep him from acting like a total idiot in his crush's presence was to make sure he started painting any time he felt a Jack induced fit of silliness setting in, but that hadn't worked out as well as he'd planned. It turned out Jack was perfectly okay lying on Aster's bed and reading or even simply watching him while he painted. That had only made the crush worse. Cute, great with Sophie, loved to watch him paint, amazing smile, it was like Jack was doing everything in his power to make himself into Aster's dream guy. Finally, the Australian had given in and realized there was nothing he could do but resign himself to the fact that Jack had his heart and, if nothing ever came of it, at least he could enjoy the pieces of Jack he was able to access as the frosty eyed teen's best friend.

Aster had actually been pretty pleased with how well he was managing his emotions around Jack in spite of Ana's interference when he'd gone and had his worst, Jack-induced, moment of stupidity yet. More specifically: _asking Jack out in front of the entire gang_. No, it wasn't really a date, but they didn't know that! How was he supposed to explain to the wide eyed audience of this disaster that this was just an "as friends" date-like thing without embarrassing Jack? That is, if Jack didn't think it was a date. He had said that word, not Aster. For a moment, the Australian started to hope that maybe someone up there had decided to be nice to him for a change.

The hope immediately disappeared as Jack turned back towards the watching gang and asked, "Do you guys wanna join us?"

Aster resigned himself once more to a lifetime of pining as Ana's joy transformed to confusion, "Join you?"

"Yeah!" Jack replied as he scooted into the car, making room for Aster to get in after him. "It'd be fun to go and see a movie as a group. That's what people do when they go to the movies, right?"

Ana nodded, pursing her lips in annoyance as she and the others realized that Aster's little invitation hadn't been for anything more than a friendly outing. (At least, as far as Jack was concerned.)

Aster slid into the seat beside Jack, deciding it was probably for the best that the albino hadn't actually meant anything by his use of the word date. That would have made for quite the awkward afternoon of stolen glances and mutual blushes. Though, Jack did look adorable when he blushed. Those pale cheeks turning pink and rosy… Aster mentally shook his head, clearing away the distracting thoughts, and said, "It'd be great if you guys wanted to come along. Turns out frosty here hasn't seen a movie in years."

Before Nick could reply that he'd love to join them, Ana was turning the offer down. "Nah, that's okay. Aster's the real movie lover; the rest of us aren't really into them."

Nick stared at her while Sandy held back a fit of laughter. That was about as far from the truth as you could get. Nick and Ana were the movie buffs of the gang while Aster normally just tagged along to check out the artistic style used for the settings and to complain when the actors botched up Australian accents and slang. He'd been a nightmare when they went to see _Kangaroo Jack_.

Jack looked mildly disappointed, but shrugged as Aster mentally began to consider all the different things he wanted to say to his meddling, female friend when they were alone. If Nick and Sandy hadn't known about his crush before they _had_ to have figured it out by now.

While Aster debated the pros and cons of moving back to Australia, Nick pulled out of the Overland's driveway and onto the street, headed towards the highway and Burgess.

* * *

Aster had been right about the car ride being his own, little slice of hell. Every time Nick took one of those stupidly sharp turns of his Jack had been pushed into Aster's side, often times almost falling into his lap. For once, the Australian wasn't sure if the sick feeling in his stomach was due to his friend's driving skills or the butterflies happily fluttering around from being so close to Jack. It was probably a mix of both.

When they finally reached the rec center, Aster practically flew out of the car and into the building, desperate to get somewhere where he could give his poor nerves a break. Luckily for him, no one followed him inside so he took the opportunity to lean against a wall and just let his body tremble for a bit. How he had managed to actually talk to Jack about what movie they should go to for half of the ride without turning into a stuttering pile of mush was beyond his understanding and the idea of suffering through the return home made his heart pound with nerves. Ana had better give up this stupid game by then or he was going to crack.

After he'd finished his mini panic attack, Aster pushed off the wall and walked to Mr. Kaufman's office. The older gentleman was sitting behind his desk and working on paperwork of some kind, but he pushed this aside the minute Aster entered.

"Hello there, Aster. I'd imagine you're here to retrieve the key?"

Aster nodded and forced his lips into the semblance of a smile while Mr. Kaufman retrieved the familiar key from its resting place in the top drawer of his desk.

"Here you are then. I haven't made it out to look into the shed myself since we got the all clear, too much snow for these old legs to plow their way through."

"Do you need us to do any kind of inventory for you?"

Mr. Kaufman laughed and handed Aster the key with a sad smile, "Nothing that complex. Just let me know what all's out there that I can still use. Feel free to throw out anything that you think is junk."

"Alright, thank you, sir."

Aster turned to leave, but Mr. Kaufman called after him, "Oh, and Aster?"

He stopped and turned back around. "Yes sir?"

"You're all more than welcome to use the ice rink when you're done."

Of course they were. An image of Jack holding onto his hands and gently helping him skate popped into Aster's head and the teen had to bite his lip to keep from groaning at the idea of a repeat performance. It had been hard enough to undergo that torture when he was still able to keep his emotions somewhat in check, but all he said was, "Thank you sir, I'll be sure to tell them."


	5. Lingering Fear

When Aster opened the shed door to reveal the wreckage, everyone's mood instantly soured. It wasn't pretty. The booths that they had spent weeks working on were either reduced to ashes or nothing more than blackened wood, the shelves full of Easter baskets looked like they'd all been caught up in the blaze as well, and the smell of charcoal permeated the interior of the tiny building. It was with grim faces that they all made their way inside to inspect what was left. Everyone, that is, save Jack.

While the others entered the shed, the pale skinned teen remained standing in the doorway, breathing in raspy gasps, his blue eyes glazed over and wide with fear as the images that had been plaguing his dreams as of late suddenly sprung to to life once more. All he could smell and taste was the poisonous and choking charcoal that was wafting around him on the breeze.

It took a few seconds for Aster to realize that Jack was no longer by his side and, when he turned around to see what was up, he immediately noticed the change in the albino's behavior. Without bothering to ask what was up, the artist quickly left the shed, grabbed Jack's arm, and dragged him away from the scene, only stopping when they'd reached the side of the shed where the smell of charcoal wasn't so strong. Here, the Australian released his hold on Jack's arm and watched with worried, green eyes as the albino slumped gratefully against the stone wall and trying to regain a little control over himself. By the time his breathing had returned to normal, the rest of the gang had joined them and were waiting in nervous silence for Jack to speak.

When he did, his voice came out shaky, barely sounding like Jack at all, "Sorry about that. I'm okay now. Go, go, go on ahead and get started, I'll join you in, in a minute."

This suggestion was not well received.

Nick and Aster exchanged worried glances as Sandy folded his arms across his chest and gave Jack a stern look. Ana merely scoffed and replied, "Not a chance, Jack. You are obviously _not_ okay."

The albino laughed, but it was clearly forced. "Really guys, don't worry."

"You ought to know better than to issue commands like that to us, mate." Aster laid a hand on Jack's shoulder as he said this and smiled at his crush. "Come on, we can do this later. Mr. Kaufman's given us a standing invitation to use the rink today and some of us haven't gotten to see you skate before."

The fact that Jack nodded in agreement without even trying to argue with Aster was proof enough that something was terribly wrong, but no one mentioned it as they relocked the shed and trudged back to the rec center.

* * *

"Wow, he's incredible!" Ana and Aster were standing side-by-side on the ice at the edge of the rink, watching Jack skate while Nick and Sandy finished putting on their own pairs ice-skates on the benches outside of the plastic enclosure.

Mr. Kaufman had let them onto the rink without question, but Aster was pretty sure the rec center head had a pretty good idea why they were back so soon. As he thought back to Jack's worrying reaction Aster realized they didn't have a clue what happened the night of the fire. Sure, they knew Pitch had set fire to the shed and somehow gotten Jack blamed, but the albino had never told them the details and they'd never thought to ask. Watching Jack fly across the ice, Aster suddenly found himself wondering why Jack had been taken to the hospital. The gang had been told that he went into shock, but what had caused it? What exactly had Pitch done?

Ana appeared to be having similar thoughts since she lowered her voice and asked, "Did Jack ever tell you what happened that night?"

He shook his head and whispered back, "No" just as a grinning Jack slid to a stop before them.

"Hey, are you two gonna stand there and whisper or are you actually going to skate?"

Ana shrugged at Aster and then pushed off from the wall. As she glided across the ice it was clear that, while she didn't have anything close to Jack's grace, she was capable enough to keep from falling down. Aster, on the other hand, still needed a lot of work and remained pressed against the plastic wall for support. Jack noticed his friend's current position and grabbed the Australian's hand, pulling him away from the plastic surface with a grin, "Come on, you did just fine last time we were here!"

Worries for Jack's well-being were instantly replaced with a rush of happy thoughts and the urge to swoon as their hands entwined. Aster quickly reigned in those emotions in, forcing his face into a scowl as he tried to hide any trace of his true feelings from the teen whose hand was currently wrapped around his own. Without thinking, he stammered out the words, "Why do you feel the need to make me to do this whenever we come here?"

Jack's grin faded and Aster knew he'd done it again.

The frosty eyed teen let go of the Australian's hand and let out a forced laugh, "Sorry. I thought you liked it when I helped you last time, but I'll leave you alone if you'd like."

Across the rink, Ana had stopped skating and was glaring at Aster, her violet eyes alight with fury. Sandy and Nick, who had just entered the rink, didn't look too pleased with him either and Aster was mentally screaming at himself for being such a massive jerk. Holding back a shiver, he took Jack's hand in his once more. "No, I'm sorry, mate. I'm just being a whacker. You're a great teacher."

The grin was back and Jack gripped Aster's hand tightly. "It's okay, I probably shoulda give you a bit more of a warning before I dragged you off the wall."

Aster laughed, desperately trying to ignore the fact that he and Jack were _still_ holding hands, and nodded his head in agreement. "That woulda been nice."

The tense moment gone, Jack once again resumed pulling Aster along the ice as the love-struck teen consigned himself to his fate and allowed the object of his affections to guide him around the rink. They continued skating hand-in-hand until it was time for the rec center to open for the day and the gang decided to go.

* * *

The ride back to Narvon started out silent and thick with tension. Now that they didn't have something to distract them, everyone's thoughts had turned back to the image of Jack leaning against the shed, clearly terrified by an unspoken fear. No one wanted to ask the obvious question and Jack wasn't offering any explanation.

Aster, who had ended up in the back once again, kept stealing nervous glances at his crush. Jack didn't look good and his breathing has been steadily getting more uneven ever since they left the rec center. About the time that they had pulled out of Burgess and onto the highway his frosty eyes had glazed over once more and now he was starting to tremble every few seconds. As another tremor coursed through his crush's thin body, Aster pushed aside his own emotions and wrapped an arm around the other teen, pulling him close.

The glazed look disappeared as Jack looked up at Aster curiously, but he didn't pull away. Instead, he smiled softly, leaned his head against Aster's shoulder, and closed his eyes. Within minutes, the pale teen was fast asleep.

The tension dissipated as the sound of Jack's deep breathing reverberated through the car, filling the whole gang with a sense of relief and, when the slumbering youth unconsciously cuddled closer to his pillow, Aster was surprised to find that Jack being this close didn't make his heart pound. As he gazed down at his sleeping crush all he felt was an odd sense of calm and a fierce urge to protect. He didn't even mind when Ana glanced back and gave him a very knowing wink.


	6. Feelings Revealed

Burning. Everything was burning. He could feel the heat against his skin and taste the sulfuric bile in his mouth as he tried to find the key. He had to find the key. Where was it? He didn't know and the flames were getting closer by the second. His search grew more and more frantic as the smoke made his eyes water, blurring his vision and forcing him to search by touch alone. As tears streaked down his sooty face, Jack reached out in blind desperation and his hand closing around burning wood.

* * *

Jack woke up biting back a scream, his eyes blown wide and his limbs trembling. For a moment, he swore he could feel the flames, but then reality sunk in and he realized it was just a dream. Just another, terrifying dream. He fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes, allowing his racing heart to calm down as he breathed in the sweet, cool, lilac scented air. Wait, lilacs? That didn't make sense. His room never smelled like flowers.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes once more and actually looked around, taking in his surroundings. The white walls and periwinkle beading were worryingly unfamiliar, as was the silence. This wasn't his room. In fact, this was a room he'd never seen before. He could feel the terror starting to course through him again as he glanced around, desperately looking for a hint as to wear he was, when a slip of white paper lying on the bedside table caught his eye. He reached out and picked it up, reading the fire truck red lettering that spelled out his name as he did so. Flipping it over, he found a neatly written note:

_Jack,_

_You looked so tired that we didn't want to wake you up, so we let you lay down in my family's spare room. We're down the hallway in my room. When you wake up, please come and join us. Don't worry, the guys took off your clothes, not me. They left them sitting on the dresser._

_~Ana_

Jack looked up from the note to the neatly folded pile of clothing sitting on top of the dresser and smiled ruefully. At least they'd had the decency to leave on his jeans. With a sigh, he dropped the paper back onto the bedside table and folded his hands behind his head and lay back on them, thinking. He wasn't sure he really wanted to go be all chummy just yet.

He knew that he owed the gang an explanation for what had happened that morning; especially since he was pretty sure there was a good chance that it could happen again. A light groan escaped his pale lips at that thought; couldn't things be easy for him just this once?

* * *

"Aster, glancing at the door every five seconds is _not_ going to make him come any sooner. Now, make your move!"

Aster frowned, but listened to Ana, turning his gaze away from her bedroom door and grabbing a white card from the pile.

Seeing the Australian's frown deepen as he looked at his fate, Sandy leaned over and glanced at the card before giggling in amusement.

"What'd you get?" Nick asked, suddenly hopeful.

"Candy Cane Forest," was the annoyed reply as Aster threw the card onto the discard pile in and moved his little, green playing piece across the colorful board to the pink square marked with a tiny candy cane. From first place to last in a single card draw, wasn't that just his luck?

The sound of the door opening broke Aster from his glaring match with the game as Jack entered the room. He'd obviously just woken up and his white hair looked even more disheveled than usual as he treated them all to a tiny, tired smiled. "Morning."

As his frosty-blue eyes fell on the game the gang was currently sitting around, Jack's smile widened into a grin, "Hey, don't let me break you out of such a fierce competition. Who's winning?"

"As of two seconds ago, Nick." Ana said, "You just missed Aster drawing the candy cane forest card."

Jack made a sympathetic noise and sat down by Aster's side, draping an arm across the Australian's shoulder. "Well, you can't win 'em all."

A forced grin was about all Aster could manage as he bent his will to fighting off the wave of happy thoughts that came with the sight of an adorably, sleepy-eyed Jack this close to him.

Luckily, Jack didn't seem to notice as he looked around and asked, "So, what did I miss while I was off in dreamland?"

Ana shrugged and picked the top card off of the pile before moving her blue piece ahead to the next purple square. "Not much. We only got home, like, twenty minutes ago. I didn't expect to see you for a while with how out of it you were. What woke you?"

Aster could actually feel Jack's whole body tense at the question.

"Nothing, I just woke up. I guess I wasn't as tired as you thought." Jack smiled at them and Aster found himself clenching his fists as he bit back the urge to call his crush out on the lie.

"Jack, I can see the circles under your eyes, you're obviously still tired. If we woke you up or if you want to go home and sleep you can just tell us." Nick explained as he took his turn, moving the red piece ahead four spaces to the next green square.

The albino's smile morphed into a nervous grin and, suddenly, he was subconsciously reaching a hand up and playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. The hyperawareness that had come with his crush meant that Aster knew exactly what those tells indicated, but why would Nick's comment make Jack nervous?

"Nah, I'm fine. I've just been up late these past few nights, that's all."

Ana and Sandy exchanged pointed looks at the admission and Aster found himself more than a little annoyed that they'd figured out something about Jack before he did. He got the picture as soon as Ana asked, "Jack, have you actually had a full night's sleep since you found out about the trial?"

The whole group fell silent as Jack suddenly refused to meet their eyes and moved his hands to rest in his lap. When he realized no one else was going to speak he took a deep breath and replied, "It's really not that big a deal."

Ana crawled across the floor and came to rest cross-legged before Jack, reaching out to take his pale hands in hers as she settled down, "Jack, you do realize that the whole 'suffering in silence' thing is not allowed when you have friends, right?"

Jack's lips quirked up into a tiny smile, but he kept his gaze fixed on the carpet, "It's honestly nothing. Even if it was, it's not like you guys can do anything about it, so don't worry. I'll get over it."

Ana scowled at the nervous teen and Aster could tell she was using all of her will to keep from chastising Jack. "It's obviously not nothing if you're having trouble sleeping and freaking out on us, Jack."

The words made him wince and Jack actually blushed as he looked up at her and said, "I guess I do owe you guys some kind of explanation after what happened at the shed today, huh?"

Ana shook her head, her scowl turning into a motherly smile, "You don't own us any explanations, Jack. We're your friends and we only want you to tell us if you're ready. We're here to help, not gossip."

The boys remained silent, letting Ana enact her motherly magic on Jack with soft words and a gentle smile. It apparently worked as Jack let out a tiny laugh and leaned forward, resting his head against her shoulder.

"I don't know if I'll ever _really_ be ready to talk about that night, but I'll give it a shot if you really wanna know."

The gang remained silent in anticipation as Jack took a deep breath and began. His voice was unusually soft as he told them his story and Aster had to strain to hear what he was saying.

"I haven't even told the police the full details of what happened that night. They know the basics, but I get the feeling I'm gonna have to go into a lot more detail for this stupid trial. I'd rather tell you guys first than a bunch of strangers.

"I guess it all started when I left Pippa's concert. I walked the mile or so from her school to the rec center and made my way to the shed to get _his_ camera. Maybe he was watching me the whole time, maybe he just got lucky, but either way he showed up at the shed right after I'd unlocked the door and gone inside."

Jack had squeezed his eyes shut as he lost himself in the memory and his voice was starting to quiver, but the others were too focused on his words to notice. "He hugged me. I… I knew right away that something was wrong because he _never_ hugged me unless I hugged him first. I asked him why he was there and he said he was 'giving me a chance to make up for last year.' I didn't get what he meant until he threw me a bottle full of gasoline and a lighter."

Ana gasped and tightened her grip on Jack's hands as Nick growled, and Aster started to image just how nice it would feel to punch Pitch squarely in the jaw. Sandy, on the other hand, had focused on a different part of the story. What exactly did Jack need to make up for? There was a story there for certain, but now was not the time to ask about it.

"I refused, of course, and told him there was no way I'd do that to you guys. He, he got mad then." Jack shuddered, but continued. "He pushed me to the ground and, before I could get back up, the booths were... they were starting to burn. I think he started to laugh then, or maybe it was after…"

Jack stopped, his whole body was shaking now and his breaths were turning into gasps.

"Jack, you don't have to…" Ana started, but he cut her off.

"No, no, I do. I do need to do this." His grip on her hands tightened, anchoring him to reality as he continued to relive that night, "After he set fire to the booths he, he locked me inside with them."

Aster's mind went blank. Locked Jack inside? As in, with the burning booths? Suddenly, Jack's strange panic attack made terrifying sense.

"He was definitely laughing by then. He bragged about how he'd taken the key and my phone when... when he'd hugged me so that I'd, I'd be helpless. Then he pushed a piece of burning cloth under the door and he left."

Jack was rushing through the memory now, the words coming fast and harsh, "The key was inside the cloth, but I couldn't use it until it had time to cool down so I was stuck inside, watching as everything burned, unable to stop it. I was finally able to pick the key up after a few minutes and I stumbled outside into the night. He'd left my phone there and I used it to call for help, but that's the last thing I really remember before I found myself sitting in a hospital bed with a cop asking for my fingerprints."

No one said a word. They all just stared at Jack in horror as he slowly calmed down, his breathing growing stronger, but there was still a quiver in his voice when he spoke again.

"I'm so sorry, guys. I'm so, so sorry. I let my... devotion blind me to what he was capable of I…" Jack stopped speaking to wet his dry lips, "I should have known better than to let you include him in the group. I should _never_ have trusted him again. I just, well, there's no excuse and I'm so, so sorry."

Ana took a shaky breath and gave him a comforting smile, "It's okay, Jack. You're not the first person to think the best of a friend."

At the word 'friend' Jack glanced up from the ground and gave her a look that was practically unreadable, but the laughter that followed sounded desperate, crazed, and hopelessly lost.

At first, Ana was simply confused by this reaction, but then the light went off and she let go of Jack's hands so that she could cover her mouth in a mixture of shock and alarm as she breathed out the words, "Oh, Jack…"

He only laughed harder at this, curling his arms around his legs and forming his thin body into a fetal position as he burying his face in his knees.

Sandy's golden eyes widened in realization as he connected the dots, but Aster and Nick remained clueless until Ana took her hands away from her trembling lips and whispered, "How long were you in love with him?"


	7. Why Pitch?

Years. Jack had been in love with Pitch for _years_.

Anger and sorrow swirled together as Aster leaned against the wall, quivering with the desire to punch something or to jump up and run out of the house, but at the same time, he felt unable to move from nausea. It had taken all of his strength just to leave Ana's room and slump down here in the Romoli's hallway.

He was still sitting like that – his legs drawn close to his body and his head resting on his knees – when Ana stormed out of her room, slammed the door, pulled him to his feet, pushed him down the hallway, and forced him into the guest room. Only after she'd closed the door behind her did she turn to glare at him, violet eyes ablaze with fury, and whisper, "What _exactly_ do you _think_ you're doing?"

He half-heartedly glared back for a moment before sighing and turning away from her, his shoulders slumping. "Leave me alone, Ana."

She grabbed his arm again and turned him around, looking like she wanted to slap him. "I will _not_ leave you alone! Do you realize that Jack thinks you _hate _him now?"

"Why would he…" Aster started to protest, but Ana cut him off.

"You ran off the second he told us he was gay!"

"Who cares if he's gay?" Aster was trembling again, his entire body ridged with the effort it was taking to keep from shouting, "I ran off when he told us he was _in love_ with a psychopath! Or did you miss that part?"

Ana made frustrated sound and threw her hands wide, a sarcastic smirk twisting her pretty face into an ugly mask, "Hey, at least you know you have a chance now!"

Aster stared at her for a full minute before letting out a mocking bark of laughter. "Yes, because I'm _totally_ Jack's type! Why didn't you ever tell me that I was a sadistic bastard?"

Now she did slap him before hissing out the words, "I don't know about the sadistic bit, but right now you have the second part down _perfectly_."

They stood there in silence, staring into each other's eyes, engaged in a mute argument until Ana sighed and the anger in her violet orbs drained away.

"Aster, Jack needs you."

Aster groaned as his whole body slumped and he lowered his gaze to the floor, no longer able to look into Ana's eyes. "Why would he possibly need me?"

"You're his best friend, Aster, and he thinks you've rejected him. I left him with Nick and Sandy, but there isn't much any of the three of us can do. You understand what he's going through better than we possibly could," Ana explained as she gently laid a hand against her friend's shoulder.

Confused green eyes looked up from the floor and met determined violet ones, "How can I possibly understand this?"

In spite of the heavy emotions surrounding the pair, Ana broke into a wide grin, "You know, whoever said that gay men are sensitive and good with emotions really needs to spend a day hanging out with you."

"Ana…" he spoke her name like a warning, but her only response to that was a simple shrug.

"Well it's true! Just use your head for once and _think_, okay? Yes, Jack was in love with Pitch, but the key word there is _was_! I'm sorry your little fantasy where Jack is secretly madly in love with you has been shattered, but welcome to the real world! You're the only one of us who knows what it's like to love someone who doesn't love you back!"

A look of surprised comprehension flashed across Aster's face before he returned his features to a moody scowl, but not fast enough for Ana to know that she'd won once again.

The argument over, Ana stepped forward and hugged him. "I know this whole delicate emotions thing hard for you when you don't have a paintbrush in your hand, but can you at least try?"

Aster sighed and hugged her back, the calming smell of Ana's floral shampoo draining away most of his remaining tension. "Alright, I'll try, but don't get upset when I mess this up."

"You won't." She whispered, smiling into his chest, "After all, I think he could use a good dose of love right now. Try to keep from kissing him, though, okay?"

Aster cracked a tiny smile at the jibe and squeezed her tighter, "Okay. Just do me a favor and get Nick out of the room, would you? Knowing him, he's going to be trying to get Jack to go down to the kitchen and have a little food therapy."

Ana pulled away, looking worried. "Oh dear, I didn't think about that."

* * *

They knew. The though made Jack wish he could just curl up and disappear. How messed up did they have to think he was now? But he couldn't lie, so he told the truth in a broken voice and looked up just in time to watch as Aster's face turned ashen and his best friend bolted from the room. Tears started to form in the corner of Jack's icy blue eyes and he hid his face once more, unwilling to watch as the others abandon him, too. He couldn't blame them, either. He could only blame his stupid heart.

Pitch had been his whole world, his only friend in a sea of loneliness, the only one who saw Jack as something more than a trouble making weirdo. He hadn't meant to give Pitch his heart, but the dark haired boy had stolen it away all the same and Jack had never thought to steal it back.

It seemed insane now, but at the time it couldn't have been more natural. Just another step along the road as the only person Pitch let near him. After all, it seemed like he'd given Pitch everything else. His memories, his fears, why not his heart? He'd never told his former friend about his feelings, but he'd planned to. He was going do it last valentine's day. Then Pitch had gone too far and burned those props last year. Despite his love, Jack couldn't let him do that.

He'd thought Pitch would understand, would see that Jack was right and that they were going too far, crossing some invisible line that Jack never wanted to cross. He hadn't. Pitch had abandon Jack for his action, breaking the fragile albino's heart in two. The one person who understood him, gone. It had hurt Jack more than he cared to admit.

Then it had gotten even worse. Instead of eventually forgiving Jack, Pitch had kept coming back to his once friends with new schemes. Every time he told Jack that it was either do this, or stay his enemy. Jack didn't want to do some sort of scheme, he just wanted his friend back, and so he'd refused every time. Hoping that this time, this time, Pitch would decide he missed Jack too much to keep demanding something in return for his friendship, but it never happened. Jack had almost given in and followed after Pitch when the school year started and he'd seen him again. He'd been so lonely, but he'd held firm and then he'd gotten involved with the people Pitch hated the most.

Jack thought that had been the end of it, that he'd lost his crush forever, but then Pitch had come back. It hadn't been because he wanted Jack to be part of some new scheme or to poke fun at him, either. He'd come back because he'd missed Jack. He'd even cried.

When Jack had seen those tears, his heart had leapt with joy. Pitch really did care. What a fool he'd been. Pitch hadn't cared about him for a minute and that only hurt worse.

These troubled thoughts swirled through Jack's mind as silent tears soaked his jeans. Though he could feel a small hand rubbing tiny circles on his back and hear comforting words being murmured in his ear, he didn't look up. He didn't want to see the revulsion in their eyes. Then the tiny hand left, the comforting words stopped. In their place came a meaty arm that wrapped around his shoulders, a soft hand placed against his arm, and loud words about food. He'd ignored these, too. The last thing he wanted was to eat.

Now these things were leaving as well and it seemed like nothing was taking their place. Jack had known this was coming, but that didn't make it hurt any less. His heart ached with the knowledge that he would soon be alone again and the tears began to fall faster, but then strong arms were wrapping around his body and someone was silently stroking his hair. That felt… oddly comforting. He'd never had someone play with his hair like this before.

* * *

Aster stared down at the softly crying Jack, nervously running his hand through his hair. He really wasn't good at these things. Last time Jack had cried he'd been able to stop the tears before they really started to get going, but that wasn't an option this time. Well, when Sophie got upset she liked to be held and have her hair stroked, maybe that would work here, too? He really hoped so.

Aster fell to his knees and took a deep breath before leaning forward and grabbing his crush as hard as he could in a powerful hug. He didn't say anything, he just held the crying teen in his arms and gently ran his fingers along the hair on the back of Jack's neck, waiting for the tears to stop.

As he waited, he marveled at how soft that snowy mane was. It was like silk. Really, really fine silk. Was it naturally like this? Jack didn't seem like the type of guy who would care that much about his hair, but there was no way hair could actually be this soft without some kind of product. Lost in his musing, Aster sort of forgot about the fact that Jack was crying as he ran his fingers through those white tresses. It was a lot shorter than his, but _so_ much softer. He found himself wishing that Jack's hair was a bit longer so he could play with it better.

Then he noticed the tiny giggles emanating from his crush and the red-rimmed, but happy eyes looking up into his and sparkling with amusement. Instantly, Aster realized what he was doing and pulled back, his face bright crimson, and watched as Jack's giggles turned into chuckles and then to full on laughter. It didn't last long and, when Jack stopped laughing, he looked a little sad, "Why'd you stop?"

He realized what he'd said only when Aster's eyes widened and, soon, Jack's face was just as red as his friend's.

"Sorry! I mean, wow, not that I…"

Aster ran a hand through his hair nervously, "It's okay."

They sat together, Aster's knees resting against Jack's bare feet, both blushing crimson until Jack managed to stammer out the words, "So, where did the others go?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, they went to get food. I think they figured you'd be pretty hungry by now."

"No, not really. I actually feel a little queasy, but that was nice of them."

The awkward silence was back again and Aster didn't know what to say to break it. He opened his mouth to ask if Jack was alright, but instead the words "So, you're gay, huh?" popped out.

Jack regarded Aster nervously as the Australian tried to hide the fact that he was mentally screaming at himself.

"Yeah, I am. That's okay, right? I mean, I know you were pretty upset when I told you, but I…"

Jack let the sentence trail off. He looked so vulnerable, sitting there and staring at Aster with his pale face full of fear, that Aster found himself fighting the urge to hug him again. Instead, he scooted so that he was sitting next to his crush with his legs splayed out across the floor and his arms pressed against the ground to keep him upright before saying, "Of course it's okay!"

Jack sighed and rested his head against his knees, "That's good. It's not very fun, though."

"You're telling me." Aster agreed. It took a lot of effort to keep himself from running from the room again once he realized what he'd just admitted. He _really_ hoped Jack had missed his meaning.

"You're gay?"

Great. Just great. He did _not_ want to be having this conversation; he didn't even know how to have this conversation. Sandy, Ana, and his folks had just figured it out. He didn't know how Nick had gotten the memo, but he suspected a certain blonde busybody had been involved. Now his first time officially "coming out" to someone would be to his heartbroken crush who was possibly still in love with a psychopath. Lovely. Biting back swear words, Aster turned away from Jack and murmured, "yeah."

"Really?"

The artist's gaze shot back to Jack, a glare of annoyance plastered on his face, "Yes, really! I don't just go around saying I like other guys for the fun of it, ya whacker!"

It was only after this little speech that he noticed Jack was smiling at him. Not just any smile, either, it was that stupid smile that made Aster's whole body heat up and turn to jelly.

"I never woulda guessed. But, then again, you're an artist so maybe I should have known?"

"Just because a guy likes art doesn't mean he's gay!" Aster tried to sound annoyed, but failed miserably because it was impossible to be annoyed with Jack when he was still giving him that adorable, sexy, amazing smile.

"But you're an artist and you're gay so I wouldn't have been wrong." Jack was still smiling, his blue eyes shining with mirth.

Aster gave up and started to laugh. He stopped laughing immediately when he felt Jack's arms wrap around his waist.

The albino rested his head against Aster's shoulder and whispered, "Sorry, that was a little mean of me. I was just surprised, that's all."

Aster didn't speak. He knew anything he tried to say at this point would either come out as a garbled mess or the words "I love you" and neither of these was a desired option. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when Jack finally pulled back and let go of him.

"It's nice to know there's someone else around who…" Jack stopped mid-sentence as if suddenly realizing something. His pale skin turned crimson once more and he started to stammer an apology.

Aster was lost. What did Jack think he'd done now?

"…so, sorry! I didn't mean to use the word date earlier like that! I know you weren't asking me on a date. It was just a joke! I didn't know it was even an option and I mean, I'm so sorry! That must have been so embarrassing for you! I…"

Oh. He was talking about their movie "date." Aster grinned at his blushing crush. He knew he shouldn't be enjoying this, but Jack was positively _adorable_ whenever he freaked out. "It's okay, mate. I know."

Jack stopped babbling, but still looked embarrassed. Aster could tell that he needed a distraction right now, they both did. Suddenly, an idea struck the tan teenager. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. "Hey, speaking of our movie agreement, it's only four o'clock. If you want, we could make a five o'clock showing."

Jack considered the offer for a second before asking, "Shouldn't we wait for the others to come back instead of just rushing off?"

Aster put away his phone and shrugged. "Sure, if you'd like we can wait. Just be warned that Ana's going to go into mama mode when she sees your red-rimmed eyes, Nick is going to try to make you eat at least half of the food in the Romoli's kitchen, and Sandy isn't going to be able to stop them. I've offered you an out and that's the only action I'm gonna take in this matter. Your call, mate."

Jack gulped, his eyes wide, "…we can just send them a text when we get to the theater, right?"

Aster grinned and rose to his feet before offering Jack his hand, "Wise choice."


	8. Memories

Aster was grinning as they left the theater and it wasn't because they'd seen a comedy. No, his amusement stemmed from the wide-eyed look of awe on his companion's face. "So, what'd ya think?"

Jack came out of his stupor and smiled at his friend before starting to babble about the film as they walked across the parking lot. Aster tried to pay attention, but the albino wasn't exactly being coherent in his praise. Jack hadn't been kidding when he'd said he hadn't seen a movie in years!

The Australian laughed lightly before holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender, "Whoa, mate, slow down!"

Jack stopped his rant and smiled, looking a little sheepish. "Sorry, it's just, wow! That was incredible!"

Aster smiled and nodded, secretly hoping that Jack didn't want to talk about the film in detail because he hadn't actually paid that much attention to what was happening on screen. Aster had spent most of the film watching Jack. It hadn't been a conscious thing; he'd merely glanced over at Jack a few minutes into the film and found himself fascinated by the look of wonder on the smaller teen's face. He'd planned to look back at the screen, he really had, but watching his crush react to the movie was much more interesting than watching the movie itself. It was only when the lights came on and people started to exit the room that he'd realized that he'd spent the entire film just watching Jack.

"So, what'd you think?"

Drat. Aster almost panicked before a clever idea popped into his head. "Oh, that was definitely worth the price of admission."

Jack grinned and started to babble again when a loud roar stopped him mid-sentence. The albino glanced at his stomach before laughing, "Maybe I should have let Nick force feed me after all."

The Australian shook his head and pulled his keys from his coat pocket as they neared his car. "No way, Nick has _terrible_ taste in food. That loony thinks fruit cake tastes good. I'll show you a real corker of a meal!"

Jack laughed as Aster unlocked the car and the couple hopped inside, "A corker of a meal, huh?"

Aster buckled his seatbelt and nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah!"

He noticed Jack's amused grin when he went to turn on the car and only then did he realized what the albino had been asking.

"Oh, corker means good."

Jack chuckled lightly as Aster pulled out of the parking spot.

"What does whacker mean?"

The artistic teen glanced over at his passenger while he pulled the car to a stop at the parking lot's exit. This wasn't the conversation he'd been expecting to have after the movie, but at least he knew all the answers.

"Whacker means idiot."

He pulled out of the parking lot and started to head towards his favorite burger place when Jack asked, "What about good onya?"

What was with this sudden obsession on Australian slang? "It's a term of praise like good job or well done."

"How about rack off?"

Now Aster was laughing, "When have I ever said that?"

"You didn't, but I heard your dad yelling it once."

Aster just laughed. This was probably the weirdest conversation he'd ever had. "I should bloody well think that one was obvious, mate."

Jack crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip, looking remarkably like Sophie did when she was pouting, "Well, yeah, but I wanna make sure I got it right."

"Rack off means go away or get lost," Aster explained, still chuckling at his mental comparison of his crush to a toddler.

"What are some other ones?"

Aster pulled the car to a stop as the light before them changed to red and turned to stare at Jack. "Okay, what's going on? Why are you suddenly so interested in this?"

The albino looked a little embarrassed as he replied, "Because I realized you know all of this stuff about me, but I don't really know that much about you."

Oh. That was true. Aster was a private person and didn't really go around sharing bits of information about himself. The idea of sharing those things with Jack made his stomach do an impressive series of acrobatic tricks aslight changed to green and Aster refocused his gaze on the road. He didn't even glance at Jack as he muttered the words, "I'm really not that interesting."

"Come on, give me a go, _mate_." Jack did his best to mimic Aster's accent on the last word, making the Australian smile.

"Your accent is terrible." It was a lie, just something to say to keep the conversation flowing. Jack was actually able to pull off a pretty decent imitation.

"I don't care if I sound a right whacker to ya, mate, this is too much fun to stop." Jack replied, continuing to endeavor with his attempt to sound Australian.

"If you wanna sound like an Aussie you might as well say pretty good crack."

"Good crack?" Jack looked confused and the accent was gone.

Aster turned on his turn signal and pulled into the parking lot of a tiny diner. "That one's hard to explain. A crack is like a good time, but it's also used in other ways. Like, 'what's the crack?'"

He parked the car and faced Jack once more, enjoying the confusion on his friend's face. "Slang's not so easy to learn, is it _mate_?"

Jack shrugged and smiled, "I guess not. We're eating here?"

Aster nodded and pulled open his door, stepping out into the chilly, night air. "Yep! This is my favorite restaurant."

The smaller teen got out of the car and followed Aster into the building. Inside, a waitress in tan slacks and a black shirt that read "Laura's Diner" guided the two to a booth at the back of the restaurant. She introduced herself as Amanda and handed each of them a black menu, promising to return quickly with drinks.

After she'd left, Jack looked around the room. He'd always known this place was here, but he'd never actually eaten here. It was very retro in style. An old fashion soda bar surrounded the kitchen and aquamarine booths, like the one he and Aster were currently seated in, lined the walls. There weren't many people here tonight. The only other patrons were a lone man reading a book at the bar and an older couple sitting at a booth on the other side of the room.

Across the table, Aster had flipped open the menu and was deciding what to order. As he debated between a hamburger and the diner's always available breakfast combo the Australian felt a piercing gaze focusing on him. He looked up into the confused, blue eyes of his crush and felt a blush begging to steal across his face. "What?"

"_This_ is your favorite restaurant?"

"Yes?" Aster replied, his voice taking on a steely tone and his posture hardening from relaxed to defensive as he waited for Jack to make some joke.

Instead, the albino merely said, "Interesting" and flipped open his menu, apparently considering the conversation over.

Aster wasn't okay with that. "What's wrong with it?"

Jack's eyes flickered from the menu to Aster before resuming their gaze to the plastic list of food. A smirk stole over pale lips, but all he said was, "Nothing."

"You can't make a big deal about this being my favorite restaurant and then not tell me why, Jack." Aster was getting annoyed now, his posture even more ridged.

Jack looked like he was going to reply, but then Amanda returned with two glasses of water and asked if they were ready. Jack said he was and Aster resigned himself to having to wait a bit longer to finish the discussion.

An order of two hamburgers and a chocolate milkshake later, he was staring across the table at his "date," waiting for an explanation.

Jack merely grinned at him and waited for Aster to re-ask the question he was obviously itching to hear the answer to.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Okay, so why is it 'interesting' that this is my favorite restaurant?"

Jack thought about it for a second before replying, "Because it's so _you_."

Aster wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. "It is?"

The albino was smiling now, "Yeah, it is. It's peaceful and quiet. I bet you like coming here because it's a good place to draw."

Aster smiled, fighting back another blush as his posture relaxed. "My dad works in the building next door. When I was a kid I used to walk over here in the summer, order a milkshake, and draw until he was done with work. Then he'd come over here, get me, and we'd walk home together."

Jack nodded, clearly pleased with how right he'd been. "Mine's a rock."

Aster was lost again. "Huh?"

Amanda was back, placing a malt glass full of thick, brown liquid in front of Jack. He thanked her and Aster accepted her offer of a water refill before returning his attention to Jack.

The pale youth took a sip of the drink and made a happy sound before continuing, "There's this rock in the woods behind the high school. It's a good place to go and think. If I liked to draw, that's probably where I'd do it."

Amanda returned and filled Aster's glass from a pitcher of water. He absentmindedly thanked her, but never turned his gaze from Jack. Once she was gone again he ran his hand through his hair and asked, "Do you go there often?"

Jack took another sip of his shake and shrugged. "I used to, but then I started to hang out with you guys. I haven't been back there since…"

Jack trailed off and Aster knew they'd entered a memory Jack wasn't comfortable talking about. He didn't push the matter, instead moving the conversation onto a different path.

"So, how are the twins?"

Jack was happy again. He eagerly started to tell Aster all about his visit the previous weekend and how Jamie and Pippa had asked him to go skating with their friends the following one as well. "This weekend was Mrs. Bennett's birthday, though, so I figured it was best if I stayed out of the way. I promised I'd visit next weekend, though."

"It seems like they're happy you're around, huh?" Aster was enjoying watching Jack talk about his siblings. It was nice to see his crush smiling again after the earlier waterworks.

Jack smile softened at the comment, looking almost a little shy, "Yeah, they really are. I never dreamed they'd actually want me to be such a big part of their lives, but Pippa is super excited to have me sitting in the front row at her next concert and Jamie's been bugging me to teach him how to ice skate. I think he's got a little crush on Pippa's friend Amber and wants to show off for her."

"You learned all this in the space of two visits?" Aster asked, eyebrows raised.

Jack laughed. "No, they call me to talk every couple of nights. Pippa started it the day after the Christmas fair. I guess she wanted to make sure I was real and not just a dream. Normally, I get roped into telling them a bedtime story, but I don't mind. The Bennets seem to be okay with it, too. I'm like a dial-a-babysitter of sorts."

"I wish I was as good with stories as you are. Sophie's started to beg me for them and I always end up telling her some well-known fairy tale."

Amanda returned again, this time with their food, and the boys began to eat. Aster held back a laugh as he watched Jack wolf down his burger hungrily. He hadn't been lying when he said the food was good.

He leaned down to take a bite of his own burger when Jack paused his munching and asked, "So, why Easter?"

Aster placed the burger back on its plate and looked at Jack, raising an eyebrow in confusion, "Elaborate a bit, please?"

Jack set down his meal and did so. "I mean, I know why Nick is so into Chrsitmas, it's obviously a family thing, but why are you so into Easter?"

Aster grabbed his burger and took a bite, thinking as he slowly chewed. He only swallowed the bite when he was ready to reply. "That's kind-of a long story."

"I've got time," Jack replied before resuming chowing down on his own meal.

Aster took another bite. Why Easter? Now there was a question that no one had ever bothered to ask before. When his mouth was once again empty he began. "I didn't want to move here, you know. I _liked_ Australia."

Jack didn't say anything, he just sat there and listened as Aster talked.

"The worst part was that we moved here at the beginning of April. I went from sunny beaches and shorts to freezing cold highlands and a winter coat in the space of a day. I was certain that I wasn't gonna make any friends and that I was gonna hate this place. Then came Easter Sunday. We'd only been here a week at that point and I hadn't even started school.

"They were holding an Easter egg hunt at the park and, despite the cold, my mom made me go. I just knew it was gonna be the worst time of my life. As I was waiting for the lady who was running the event to tell us we could start searching, a little girl with bright-blonde hair came up to me and said 'hi.' I ignored her at first, but she had a will of iron when it came to what she wanted and, apparently, what she wanted was me as a friend."

Aster was smiling at the memory and, across the table, Jack was grinning. He had a pretty good guess who that little girl was.

"By the end of the Easter egg hunt I was firmly cemented as her friend and was being introduced to the two boys she had been hanging out with before she met me. When I learned that she lived on the same street as me, I knew that there was no way I was gonna escape being a part of the gang. I didn't really mind, though.

"They've talked about that day before, but I've never told them that I didn't wanna be at the Easter egg hunt. They've always just assumed it was my favorite holiday. It wasn't. Easter's my favorite because it lead me to them. I throw that hunt every year so that some other lonely little ankle-biter can find his new beginning, too."


	9. A Corker of a Cobber

"Don't tell them that story, okay?"

Jack blinked in surprise as Aster's voice suddenly grew sharp. "Why not?"

Aster ran a hand through his hair, something Jack had started to notice that the Australian did only when he was nervous, "It's just, I've never told them and it'd be weird if they suddenly knew."

"You mean you don't wanna look like a big softy."

As Aster started to protest Jack laughed and ran a hand across his heart in the symbol of an x, "Your secret's safe with me, but I think they'd be honored if they knew. Nick might actually appreciate Easter a bit more."

"Not a chance, mate. Just drop it," Aster replied before digging into his waiting burger. Jack merely chuckled in amusement at his friend's embarrassed behavior and resumed working on his own meal. They ate in comfortable silence until Amanda returned once more, this time with the bill.

"Is this a split bill or is one of you two paying for both?"

Jack snatched a credit card out of his wallet and handed it to the waitress, "It's on me today."

She nodded and took the card away before Aster had time to protest. Once she was gone, the Australian teen folded his arms across his chest in annoyance and grumbled out the words, "You didn't need to do that."

The albino winked at his "date." "I know, but I wanted to. Consider it a thank you for everything you did today. You didn't have to waste four hours hanging out with me and making sure I was okay, but you did."

Aster blushed a light pink and turned to gaze out the window as Amanda brought back the credit card and a slip of paper. Once Jack had signed his name, he stood up and grabbed his jacket from where it was lying on the aquamarine plastic that covered the booth bench. As he shrugged on the garment, the pale youth asked, "Are you gonna sit there and act huffy all night or are we heading out?"

Aster looked at him moodily, pursing his lips in what could almost be called a pout.

Jack grinned at the sight. "Come on, you can pay for me next time if you're gonna be such a baby about it."

"I'm not being a baby!" Was the annoyed reply as Aster grabbed his own coat and stood up, following a laughing Jack through the room and out of the diner.

"Maybe not a baby, but certainly a _whacker_."

Jack's return to his imitation accent made Aster smile in spite of himself. As he unlocked his car, Aster looked across the vehicle into the grinning face of his crush and declared, "You know, you're a corker of a cobber, Jack, you really are."

Puzzled, Jack opened the passenger's door and swung his body into the car as he asked, "Is that a good thing?"

Aster nodded and started up the car, "Yep."

"So, do I get to know what a cobber is?"

Aster pulled the car out of its parking space and replied, "Let's see if you can guess it."

Jack thought about it for a minute before jokingly asking, "Annoying white haired kid who I'm stuck hanging out with?"

Aster's only response was to laugh and shake his head.

"A man of excellent wit and charm?"

"Nope."

"Someone with dashing good looks?"

Aster glanced over at his grinning passenger and rolled his eyes. Even though it was a perfect description of Jack, he wasn't about to admit _that_. "Try again."

"Friend?"

Aster grinned and jokingly replied, "Hey, it only took you a couple goes, but you got it eventually!"

Jack didn't laugh at the good natured jibe. Instead, he was smiling that damn smile again and laying all of its force on Aster. The Australian gulped and focused all his attention on not crashing the car. That smile really ought to be a controlled substance.

"So a corker of a cobber is a good friend."

Aster nodded, still focused on the road, "More than a good friend, a best friend."

He didn't need to look at the other teen to know Jack's smile had grown even brighter.

* * *

It was Sunday afternoon and Aster was lying on his bed, doing something he hadn't ever allowed himself to do before: he was sketching a picture of Jack. With the skill of hours spent watching and day dreaming of his crush, the artist was able to masterfully capture the image of the other teen's face in ink. He'd been at this for a good hour, but now he was almost done. When he finished and let himself study the drawing, he found himself staring into a nearly perfect, black-and-white image of a smiling Jack.

Aster just lay there and looked at the sketch for a while. He'd gotten most of it right, but he wasn't happy with the eyes. Jack's eyes were a world unto themselves and Aster wasn't sure anyone could truly capture the beauty of those eyes with a mere sketch. They needed color to really come to life. The smile, on the other hand, was just right. Aster didn't think he could possibly do a better job of capturing those graceful lips.

He found himself wondering if Jack's lips were as soft as he imagined.

The Australian ran a finger along the images edge, feeling his heart start to pound. Would it be weird if he kissed a sketch? Probably, but the idea was surprisingly tempting. After all, it was probably the closest he'd ever get to kissing Jack.

No, he wasn't going to kiss his own sketch! So, why was he suddenly holding the sketchpad so tightly in his hands? It was like the ruddy things had a will of their own, slowly moving the image closer and closer to Aster's face. Maybe just one kiss. No one had to know.

The door burst open, making Aster jump and drop the sketchpad in surprise. A wickedly grinning Ana was standing in the room's entrance.

He grabbed his sketchpad and flipped it closed. He didn't care that Ana knew about his crush, but he was definitely _not_ okay with _anyone_ else seeing that drawing. He was also desperately praying she hadn't noticed what he'd been up to when she barged in.

Even if Ana had known what Aster was hiding, she wouldn't have cared. She was there with only one goal in mind. "Details, Aster! I need details!"

"Details?" He asked nervously, suddenly realizing what this was all about.

"_Yes_!" The blonde shouted the reply before jumping onto the edge of his bed. Her violet eyes were full of excitement and delight. "How did it go? I'm assuming well since I didn't have to deal with a call from either of you last night."

Aster smiled shyly, memories of the previous night flicking through his mind, "It was really fun."

"Aster, DETAILS! Really fun is a _terrible_ description!" The evil smirk returned. "Do I need to ask _Jack_?"

"No!" Aster's eyes widened in fear at the question. If she started to interrogate Jack there was a pretty good chance that the albino would figure out that something was up. "Just tell me what you want to know, you she-devil."

And thus Ana got to hear the abridged version of the nights events. She cooed and gasped appreciatively at all the right parts, making Aster blush, but when he got to the part where he'd dropped Jack off at home the story ground to a halt and Ana's eyes began to gleam with excitement.

"Did something happen when you dropped him off?"

The thought that Ana _really_ needed something to keep her busy because she was far too excited about _his_ love life briefly crossed Aster's mind, but he answered the question anyway, "I don't know."

She looked really excited now. "Oooooh, what happened?"

Aster sighed, drew one of his legs close to his chest, and rested his head on his knee. "We were talking about Australia and what it was like living there when we got to the Overland's. Once I'd parked, I expected him to just get out of the car and wave goodbye, but he didn't. Instead he smiled over at me, said 'I had an amazing time tonight, by the way' and _then_ he left."

He knew it wasn't as interesting as Ana had been hoping, but to Aster, that little admission had left his heart pounding. 'An amazing time' did _not_ sound like something you said to your friend after a night on the town. It sounded like something you said to a _date_.

Apparently Ana agreed because she let out a happy squeal and lunged forward to hug him. "Oh, Aster, that's awesome!"

"I'm not going to ask him out, Ana." He replied as he hugged her back, deciding to cut her off now before she really got going. To his surprise, she laughed.

"I would hope not!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aster asked, pushing her away so he could look into her eyes. Didn't she think he was good enough for Jack anymore?

"There's no way Jack's ready for that yet." She explained, "I told you to ask him out before we found out about the… Pitch situation. Now that we know about that, things are going to be tricky and we have to handle this with delicacy."

As Ana started to lecture him on wooing strategies and subtle ways to make Jack notice him ("First off, we have to get you some new clothes that will make Jack drool when he sees you!") Aster hid his face in his hands and groaned. He was at the mercy of a teenage matchmaker with no one to call to his aid. He was doomed.


	10. A Needless Makeover

"Ana, this is the stupidest thing I've ever placed on my body. I'm taking it off, we're leaving, and you are _never_ to speak of this again," Aster declared as he stepped out of the changing booth and glared at his patiently waiting companion.

Ana ignored his grousing and examined the outfit. She was used to Aster by now and knew how to read him. He _liked_ this one and that made him uncomfortable. After years of wearing nothing by ill-fitting jeans and paint splattered t-shirt, the idea that he could look attractive probably had his head spinning, but that's why she was involved.

"Go ahead and turn so I can see the full package," she commanded and Aster complied, though the glare never left his face.

Ana smiled in excitement and nodded. Yes, this would do nicely. Jack wouldn't know what hit him. "Alright, you're buying it."

Her companion made an annoyed, scoffing sound, but Ana noticed that he didn't fight her on the matter. In fact, as he handed the clerk his credit card at the checkout, she swore he was actually fighting an excited smile.

* * *

Aster allowed himself a one last peak in the mirror and adjusted his green bandana before grabbing his backpack and heading to the kitchen. He still couldn't believe he was wearing this get up to school, but he couldn't lie to himself. He looked good. Good enough to draw the gaze of a certain, incredible attractive, albino? That he didn't know, but he was starting to hope that it would as he headed off to the kitchen for breakfast.

He was sitting at the kitchen table, absentmindedly eating a milk drenched Weetabix bar and daydreaming about Jack when a familiar buzzing in his pocket drew him back to reality. Aster's dreaming smile transformed to a frown as he pulled his phone out, flipping it open to see what had cause the vibrations. It was a text from Ana.

_"Are you coming?"_

He looked at the message in confusion and then checked the time. Just how long had he been day dreaming? After sending a quick reply of "_BRT, eating_" he wolfed down the rest of his soggy breakfast and rushed out of the front door. An amused looking Ana was waiting for him at the end of the driveway.

That really surprised him.

"You're walking with me?"

Ana didn't bother to acknowledge the question since the answer was obvious, opting to give an appreciative wolf-whistle instead. "I didn't think you'd be so willing to wear it! I figured I'd have to drag you back inside and _make_ you change. You look incredible!"

Aster tried to look uninterested in the compliment as he walked down the driveway to join her, but he failed miserably. With a last effort to maintain his dignity he gruffly exclaimed, "Just don't make me regret doing this, okay?"

She giggled in amusement and nodded. "You have my word. Now, let's go!"

After a week of walking to school alone, it was a little strange to have Ana by his side once more, but he wasn't going to complain. Her constant chattering was a welcome sound and made the walk to school fly by. As the familiar, low, gray building came into view, the two teens picked up their pace, hurrying across the parking lot to where the nice, warm sleigh was waiting for them.

Aster reached the jeep first and opened the back door, sliding into the seat by Sandy just as Ana reached the cherry-red vehicle. It was only when he was about to close the door behind him that Aster noticed she was laughing and that Sandy was treating him to a look of deep amusement. Nick merely seemed surprised. "What?"

"It's nothing, really," Nick replied as Ana got into the car. "I'm just surprised that you let her have the front seat."

Aster's whole face lit up scarlet. Oh. The thought of sitting anywhere but where Jack would soon be hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Nice outfit, by the way. What's up with the new look?"

Aster managed to stammer out something about Ana and a shopping trip before she stepped in to save him.

"I made Aster let me take him shopping. Can you believe I had to go over to his house this morning just to make sure he wore it?"

Nick's curious look transformed into one of sympathy. Ana had been trying to get Aster to let her give him a makeover for years. As Nick focused that pitying gaze on him, Aster mentally made a note to thank Ana for saving him from trying to explain his sudden interest in fashion. Then, the car door was opening and all thoughts of thanks flew somewhere far away as Aster turned to stare into shocked, blue eyes.

Ana had been right in her guess that Jack would be the type to go for the "bad-boy" look. In place of Aster's normal ill-fitting and paint-splattered artist's chic, he was wearing a tight, white t-shirt that showed off his chest and had a marvelously low-cut neckline. Over the shirt he was a wearing a warm, black-leather jacket she'd picked out in order to give Aster a bit of 'dangerous air' and, instead of a faded, ratty looking bandanna, Ana had forced the Australian to buy a new, bright-green one that perfectly matched his eyes and made them 'pop'. That was just the part that Jack could see, too. Once he got a look at Aster's new jeans (which actually showed off the Australian's physique instead of hiding it) Ana was betting that Jack would be wiping away drool.

* * *

Jack was starting to worry. Yet another nightmare had left him gasping and unable to sleep. How many was that now? He'd given up counting, but knew it was somewhere in the double digits.

The first few hadn't bothered him, he'd even expected them. Nightmares had plagued him after his parent's death, after all, but those hadn't been nightly occurrences like these and he didn't remember having that much trouble falling asleep.

He sighed and thrust his hands deeper into the pockets of his jeans as he trudged towards the high school. Thinking about his nightmares was probably not going to help him get rid of them. He just hoped that the ever observant duo of Ana and Sandy would miss the tell-tail signs that he was exhausted.

As his feet hit the blacktop of the parking lot, Jack plastered a smile on his face and headed toward the familiar jeep. From here, he could see that Nick and Ana were turned around and talking to someone in the back, meaning that his presence had yet to be noticed. The fact that he was early due to being up since 3am probably helped, too.

Oh well, time to make his entrance!

Jack threw open the car door, ready to call out his usual greeting, but the words died in his throat as his eyes widened in shock. Since when did Aster start dressing like that?

Wordlessly, the albino slid into the car, staring at Aster the entire time. Finally, he managed to ask, "What happened to you?" in a stunned voice.

Most people would have noticed the tone of that statement and realized that Jack was more than a little impressed, but Aster was too nervous to hear anything but the words themselves. Jack didn't like it. Yesterday had been a total waste. What had he been thinking letting Ana do this to him?

Ana immediately realized what was happening when she saw Aster's shoulder's slump at Jack's question and it took an impressive amount of willpower to hold back a groan. Honestly, did she have to do everything for these two? After exchanging a brief look of "are they for real?" with Sandy, she focused her violet eyes on Jack and grinned. "Doesn't he look great? I finally managed to make him go shopping with me."

Jack remained silent, never taking his eyes from Aster while he debated how to answer that question. Ana was right; Aster looked good, really good, but not better, just good in a different way. This look suited the attitude Aster gave the world at large, the gruff exterior he liked to portray, but the baggy jeans and paint-splatter t-shirts were like a part of who Aster really was. How did he say that without insulting Ana or Aster, for that matter? Realizing that he'd been staring without a sound for long enough to be considered creepy, Jack decided to keep his opinions to himself, "He looks great, Ana! Nice work."

Ana beamed as Aster stared at Jack in surprise, "Really? I thought it was a bit much…"

"No, it looks great!" Jack was back to his normal, grinning self. "Almost as good as that outfit Ana picked out for me."

The makeover queen grinned, "Why thank you, Jack. Maybe I'll even let you come along when I take Aster out again."

The Australian glanced at her in alarm, but Jack's comment of, "I don't think you could make any improvements on this, Ana," immediately had Aster gazing at his shoes, desperately trying to hide a pleased smile and a growing flush.

As Sandy rolled his eyes and Nick glanced between the trio in confusion, Ana held back a triumphant smirk. Good. Now Aster knew step one was going as planned. It was a little depressing that she had to drag the admissions out of Jack, but she'd do what she had to. Now it was time to move the conversation on before Jack noticed anything weird, though. "True, I did do an incredible job on him. Now, if I could just get you to stop wearing those ratty old hoddies…"

Jack laughed and began to mockingly argue with her about his fashion choices, but Aster didn't hear a word the two were saying. So what if he didn't care much for fashion? If it caught Jack's eye, then it was worth the effort, even if it meant he'd have to change clothes before and after his art periods.


	11. The Von Frost Family Singers

**Author's Note**: There's a song in the chapter that I assume most people don't know and the version that I like of it can be found if you go to youtube and find the video with this ID: watch?v=3WCd3lQY0o8.

* * *

Saturday found the whole gang headed to Burgess. While Jack was spending the day with his siblings, the rest of the gang planned to once again try their hands at cleaning out the shed.

In spite of the fact that Jack wasn't joining them, the albino seemed to be a bundle of nerves from the moment he got into the car. The signs were subtle, but they all noticed that he couldn't seem to keep his hands still and, when asked about the day's plan, Jack brushed off their enquires with jokes and gave no details. Something was up.

Unsurprisingly, Ana had quickly found a way to distract Jack from his nerves by engaging him in a conversation about their AP chemistry homework. Aster, who had opted to take a less demanding science course, tried to follow along, but was quickly lost in a tide of scientific gibberish. Something about a boring atom?

Whatever it was, the duo was soon completely caught up in their discussion, leaving the rest of the car to do as they liked. Sandy had quickly drifted off to sleep and Nick was humming along to the pop rendition of jingle bells currently being sung over the car's speakers by someone Aster didn't recognize. This left Aster with no one to talk to and a very-long period of Nick's driving to suffer through.

As the familiar, queasy feeling that arose every time Nick zoomed around a corner began to twist at his stomach, Aster decided to try and take a page from Sandy's book. He closed his eyes, leaned back, and let the sounds of a discussion on atomic models lull him to sleep.

* * *

"Aster, wake up!"

The Australian growled lightly and snuggled into his pillow. He was far too comfortable to wake up and he'd been having the best dream!

A light giggle sounded right by his ear and now someone was poking him. Honestly, couldn't he just sleep a little longer? He was comfy here, even if his pillow was a bit on the hard and lumpy side.

"Aster, I've got to get out of the car now, wake up!"

Car? What car? And why was someone playing Christmas music?

With a groan, Aster opened his eyes and groggily took in his surroundings. He was sitting in the back of Nick's car and Ana was looking at him with a positively wicked grin on her face while Jack looked down at him from a heart-stoppingly small, I-could-kiss-you-if-I-just-moved-my-head-an-inch-c loser, distance.

Aster was suddenly wide awake and blushing cherry-red as he realized that his bony pillow was actually Jack's shoulder. With something oddly close to a squeak, the artist shot up and began to stutter out an apology, but Jack only grinned.

"It's fine, Aster. I would have let you sleep longer if I didn't need to get out of the car."

The artist nodded mutely, clamping his mouth shut before he could embarrass himself any further and simply watching as Jack said his good-byes before exiting the car and heading up the Bennett's driveway.

Once Jack had entered the house, a chuckling Nick pulled away and headed towards the rec center as he and Ana continued to give the blushing Australian amused glances from the front seat.

* * *

Aster exited the warmth of the rec center and headed out into the harsh winter air, the familiar weight of the shed key in his hands, and hurried towards the sleigh. As he approached, he could see Ana was out of her seat and busily rummaging through the trunk while Sandy blinked the sleep from his eyes by her side. Unsurprisingly, Nick had already started across the field with a duffle bag full of cleaning gear slung over his shoulder.

The artist reached the jeep just in time to watch as Ana handed Sandy a box of trash bags and a broom. "Here, take these and I'll get the other brooms. Aster can carry my duffle."

"I don't remember signing up to be your bag boy."

Startled, Ana whipped her head towards him and then grinned, "And Jack didn't sign up for pillow duty, but he did it all the same without a word of complaint. These are the things we do for our _friends_."

As Aster turned crimson, Sandy gave the pair a questioning look.

"Oh, right, you were asleep for the fun! _Someone_ fell asleep on the ride here and just so happened to end up curling up against a certain white-haired cutie in his sleep."

Now Sandy laughed, giving Aster an amused grin and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, don't you start, too! I've already got her playing matchmaker; I don't need two people trying to dictate my love life."

Sandy just laughed harder and started across the field towards the shed, privately thinking that he'd make quite a good matchmaker if he ever put his mind to it.

Back at the trunk, Ana began to say something more about the "pillow incident," but Aster shut her up with a pointed look as he grabbed the neon-purple duffle bag sitting inside and tried hoisted it onto his shoulder. Unfortunately, he'd grossly underestimated the bag's weight and almost fell over instead.

"What do you have in this thing, Ana, rocks?"

Ana grinned innocently as she closed the trunk and started off towards the shed, "Not much, just some stuff we might need for today."

He let out a low growl and picked the bag up once more, this time successfully managing to sling it across his shoulders without stumbling before shouting after her, "How did you even manage to get this thing into the car?"

"I had Nick carry it for me when we were getting the brooms, remember? Now, stop grousing and come on!"

Aster sighed and started to follow after her, though moving at a much slower pace due to the dead weight he was lugging. It was lucky for Ana that he was used to carrying heavy bags of supplies in the art room.

When he finally reached the shed, Aster carefully placed the bag on the ground outside and walked inside to join his friend. The three of them were looking at the fire's remains in silence with troubled looks on their faces.

"You know," Ana whispered as Aster came to a halt beside her, "knowing what actually happened that night makes it a lot harder to be here, doesn't it?"

Sandy nodded and shivered as the other boys grimaced.

They stood there a bit longer, all lost in their own thoughts, before Aster shook his head and moved forward, grabbing the edge of the closest piece of wood. "Okay, enough of that! Let's get to work."

* * *

Four hours of heavy lifting and a well-deserved lunch break later, all the burned boards had been carried across the field to the dumpsters by the rec center. Now the gang had started to go through what was left of the Easter supplies to see if anything was salvageable. So far, the answer was a resounding "no."

Aster sighed and threw yet another ruined basket onto the growing pile by the door. Great. Just great. He was going to have to start working on Easter stuff extra early this year if he wanted to pull this off. He ran a sooty hand through his hair in annoyance, not even caring that he was getting the black substance all through it.

He could hear the ending notes of some random Owlcity song blasting from just outside the shed as he picked up the next basket and started to examine it. It turned out that Ana's duffel had contained snacks, several water bottles, even more trash bags, and a set of portable speakers. Her phone was currently plugged into these and playing through her favorite songs for a second time, Nick's offer to replace the pop medley with a Christmas selection after the first run through having been unanimously vetoed.

"Found anything useful yet?" Ana asked, coming to stand by his side while Nick and Sandy filled up garbage bags with the baskets Aster had already judged unusable.

"One basket. One, single, measly basket out of however many were stored on these shelves. Damn it, Pitch. What did we ever do to you?"

This basket was worthless too. With a growl of anger Aster chucked it over his shoulder, almost hitting Sandy in the head. The golden eyed teen gave his upset friend a saddened look before grabbing the projectile off the ground and throwing it into his trash bag.

Nick stuffed a basket into his own bag and joined the conversation. "It's not like we can't still pull off the hunt, Aster. If we were able to make the Christmas fair work, this will be a piece of pie."

Aster nodded and rejected another basket. "I know, but that doesn't mean I can't be mad about all the work I have to do now. Easter's only three months away!"

"We can help." The gang all turned towards the source of the new voice. Jack was standing in the doorway, with Jamie on his right and Pippa on his left, grinning happily.

"What are you three doing here?" Ana cried, moving past Aster to greet the three Frosts and turn off her music.

Jack laid his hands on the twins' shoulders before explaining, "When I told them what you guys were busy cleaning the shed today, they wanted to come by and see if you needed any help once we were done with today's plans."

As the others left the shed to welcome the new arrivals, Aster carefully scrutinized his crush for any signs of a breakdown. Jack seemed to be okay, though. The fire's remains were mostly gone at this point, anyway, so it was probably a lot easier for Jack to deal with being here now. The comforting presence of his newly gained siblings was probably helping, too.

"Aster, are you okay?" Jack called in to his friend, noticing that the Australian hadn't moved.

Aster nodded and quickly came to join the group. "Yeah, sorry, just lost in thought."

Jack laughed. "That's alright. How's the clean up going?"

"Well, the cleaning up part is going well. The finding anything worth keeping part? Not so much."

Pippa peered into the shed, brown eyes full of curiosity as she noticed the soot stained floor, "Wow, what happened in there?"

"Some jokers thought it would be fun to start a fire in that old fire place," Jack lied, giving his friends a pointed look. "It got out of hand, though, and all the stuff we were keeping in the shed caught on fire, too."

Pippa frowned and Jamie made a disgusted sound before pulling at Jack's hand and exclaiming, "That's awful! Why didn't you tell us this is why your friends had to clean out the shed, big bro?"

Jack took his little brother's hand in his, the endearment making him practically shine with joy, and smiled down at him. "Well, I didn't want you to get upset about it before I knew how bad things were. This is the first time any of us got to look and see how bad the damage actually was."

Jamie accepted the explanation as Nick grabbed a water bottle from Ana's duffle. While he cracked it open he asked, "So, what were you three up to while we were getting ourselves covered in soot?"

"Jack took us and all of our friends skating!" Jamie answered, grinning. "I was able to jump without falling, too. Jack says I'll be able to do fancy stuff in no time!"

"Then we took everyone else home and went to the flower shop. Jack let me pick out whatever flowers I wanted to put on mama and papa Frost's graves when we visited them," Pippa added, holding tightly to her older brother's hand and smiling up at him. "I got a whole bouquet of poppies for them because poppies are my favorite flower."

"That's just because you like that song and wanted to sing it for them," Jamie responded knowingly.

"What's wrong with that? It's a lovely song! I bet they liked it," She countered, glaring at him.

And now the gang knew why Jack had been so nervous that morning.

Jack knelt down, refusing to look at the gang, and stopped the budding fight by hugging the twins to him tightly. He even managed to keep a grin on his face as he whispered, "It was a lovely song, Pippa."

Pippa beamed and leaned to the side to make sure her twin could see that she was sticking her tongue out at him.

"Song?" Ana asked, mostly because she didn't know what else to say.

Pippa, who had suddenly realized that Jack seemed upset about something, wrapped her little arms around his neck and explained, "There's a song called _In Flanders Fields_ that we sing in choir every year for our veteran's day concert."

Jack nodded and took a deep breath before he trusted himself to speak, "And you always do a great job, Pip. Now, enough about our day, let's see what's left from this annoying, little fire."

He looked over at Aster. "What do you need our help with?"

Since the baskets weren't too badly charred, Aster allowed the twins to help bag them up as long as they promised to be careful not to get themselves too dirty. He didn't want the Bennetts mad at Jack over soot covered clothing. The twins readily agreed and began to pack up garbage bags with Ana and Sandy while Nick and Jack carried the full ones across the field. As Aster resumed examining the baskets that were still on the shelves Pippa began to hum.

It was an unconscious habit for the little singer and her voice was clear as a bell, so Ana didn't bother to turn back on her music. By the time Jack and Nick had returned the child was singing. It was a song Aster had never heard before but it was so hauntingly beautiful that he stopped working and just listened.

_"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow_

_Between the crosses row on row,_

_That mark our place; and in the sky_

_The larks, still bravely singing, fly_

Jack leaned against the door of the shed and listened for a bit before joining his sister in her song.

_"Scarce heard amid the guns below._

_We are the Dead. Short days ago_

_We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,_

_Loved and were loved, and now we lie_

_In Flanders fields."_

Pippa gave Jamie a wide-eyed and pleading look as she sang. Her twin saw the look, sighed, rolled his eyes, and joined his siblings. The entire gang had stopped working by now, too caught up in the song to do anything but listen as they sang:

_"Take up your quarrel with the foe:_

_To you from failing hands we throw_

_The torch; be yours to hold it high._

_If ye break faith with us who die_

_We shall not sleep, though poppies grow_

_In Flanders fields."_

The song faded away and Jack walked over to his siblings before pulling them both into a tight hug, his blue eyes unusually bright. Aster was certain he wasn't the only one who noticed the slight, husky note in the albino's speech as he declared, "The Von Trapps have nothing on us Frosts!"

The twins laughed and hugged Jack back before going back to work on stuffing the ruined baskets into trash bags. Jack grinned at them and quickly wiped a hand across his eyes before grabbing another trash bag and heading across the field. As he left, Ana rushed to turn her music back on before Pippa could break into song again. If that kept happening, they'd never get the job done.


	12. Stone Flowers are Forever

Aster finished examining the final basket and threw it to Jack, who then tossed it into a trash bag, left the shed, and headed across the field to the dumpster. There had been over 200 baskets stored in the shed when they counted last spring. Only 40 had survived the fire. Aster sighed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he glared moodily at the blackened wall before him. Over 150 baskets to order and paint before Easter. Lovely. A tiny hand took hold of his arm, drawing his attention from his staring contest with the wall and down to the face of the little girl standing by his side. Pippa smiled at him sweetly and declared, "You need to stop being grumpy about things you can't change."

Ana, who'd been watching the scene unfold with mild interest, stifled a laugh. Aster heard the noise and glanced at her sharply before looking back at down the little girl. "I'm just upset."

Pippa shook her head. "Doesn't matter. You're still being a grump and that doesn't help anything. Come on now, if something's making you grumpy the best thing to do is to leave it be."

She dragged him away from his brooding and out of the shed, past a very amused looking Nick and Sandy, towards the opposite end of the field where Jack and Jamie were waiting for the gang to join them. When Jack realized what his little sister was doing, his face transformed into a mask of amused disbelief.

Jamie, on the other hand, just shook his head and laughed. When Aster and Pippa reached the Frost boys, the male twin asked, "Was he being grumpy?"

Pippa nodded and gave Aster a disapproving look, "Yep."

Aster stammered out the words "No I wasn't!" as the rest of the gang crossed the field and joined them.

Pippa let go of his arm, placed her hands on her hips in a stance that was disturbingly reminiscent of Ana, and treated the Australian to a judging look, "You were glaring at the wall, mister. That's acting grumpy and is _not_ allowed."

Aster started to protest, but the laughter of the others shut him up immediately. He had to admit, this probably looked ridiculous. So, instead of saying anything, he grinned and picked the little girl up in his arms. She let out a squeak of surprise as he swung her around, but by the time he put her down Pippa was laughing and all thoughts of chastisement were gone.

When Aster glanced at Jack to make sure his crush was okay with what had just happened, he found the other teen smiling at him softly. Aster grinned back as the albino looked at his laughing sibling and declared that it was time for him to take her and Jamie home. Pippa stopped laughing, grabbed Aster's left hand with her right hand, and dragged him over to Jack. When she reached her big brother she took his right hand with her left and grinned up at the two teens. "Okay, but Aster has to come with us so I can make sure he doesn't go back to being grumpy!"

Jack laughed, "As long as he doesn't mind it's fine by me. In fact, why don't we have the whole gang walk with us?"

He turned to look at his friends before adding, "That is, if you guys want to."

"Why not?" Nick agreed. "Just let me go and dump Ana's bag back in the sleigh."

Sandy gave them a double thumbs up of approval and Ana's assent was clear from the smile on her face.

The matter settled, the group left the rec center and headed for town. As they walked, the twins told the gang all about the buildings and places they were passing. Pippa did most of the talking with Jamie serving as her anchor. When she started to babble, her twin would give her a special look and she'd instantly reign in her speech. Every now and then the male twin would actually add a comment of his own, but he seemed content in his silent role.

When they eventually reached the Bennett's house, Jack walked the twins to the door and exchanged an awkward hello with Mrs. Bennett before hugging his siblings goodbye and rejoining the gang. He was about to say something about heading back to the rec center when a loud growl emanated from his stomach, making the others laugh.

"I take it you'd be up for dinner in town?" Nick asked, giving Jack a knowing wink.

Jack nodded and grinned. "Definitely, I'm starving!"

The others readily agreed and the gang made their way back to downtown Burgess amidst heavy debate on what they should eat. As they drew close to the local pizza parlor, the debate was decided for them by the tempting smells of baking bread and garlic.

* * *

"Thank you, that was delicious," Ana called to their waiter as they left the restaurant and stepped out into the twilight evening. It was only 5 o'clock, but winter meant early sunsets and long nights in upper Maine.

"So, back to the rec center and then we head home!" Nick declared, starting to walk along the street towards the proposed destination.

The others began to follow, but then Jack asked, "Actually, do you mind if we make a slight detour? It'll only take an extra ten minutes or so."

Aster paused mid step and turned to look at him. "Where do you wanna go?"

Jack shrugged. "I just wanted to swing by the graveyard, that's all."

He was obviously trying to sound casual about the request, but Aster could hear the nervous tremor in his crush's voice.

"Sure, we have time," Ana said with a delighted smile. "It'd be lovely to see where your parents were buried."

Jack grinned at her and nodded his thanks. "Great! It's this way."

He took off down the street and the others followed after him. They were heading along the same path they would have taken to go to the rec center at first, but then Jack took an unfamiliar turn and they were in a part of Burgess the gang had never seen. Older houses lined these streets.

"This is the oldest part of town," Jack commented, motioning towards the buildings they were passing.

The gang nodded, studying the old buildings with slight interest. Their hometown of Narvon was very young and none of the buildings there were anything close to as old as these. Soon, they came to the end of the street where a tiny chapel sat on the edge of a sprawling sea of tombs. With the ease of years spent visiting this land of the dead, Jack made his way through the graveyard, the gang trailing at his heels.

Eventually, he came to a halt before two, unassuming, black marble graves that lay beneath the bare branches of a tall oak tree. The one on the right had a carving of a flowering rosemary branch next to the words "Emma Frost: Beloved Mother and Friend" and the one on the left read "Nathaniel Frost: Treasured Companion and Father" with a stone lilac chiseled beside the words. On the ground before the graves lay a bouquet of vermilion poppies.

Jack knelt down and straightened the flowers a bit before laying a hand on his mother's grave. He traced a finger along her name as he said, "Hey mom, I just wanted to stop by and let you know I got the twins home safe and sound."

He repeated the motion with his father's name, "And don't worry, dad, we didn't get into any trouble."

Then he turned to look his waiting friends and grinned at them nervously, "Guys, these are my parents."

The boys didn't seem to know what to do, but Ana stepped forward and knelt by Jack's side. "Who picked out the gravestones? They're lovely."

Jack ran a hand over the smooth surface of his father's stone once more before replying. "Me. Everyone else wanted to put something to do with music on my mom's grave and they were gonna give my dad a pair of skates, but I wouldn't let them. I insisted we give them flowers.

"You see, my grandmother had died just about a year before my folks did and I remembered my mom telling me that a tombstone should always have at least one flower carved on it. That way, even when people stop visiting you, there will always be flowers on your grave.

"I couldn't give them any old flower, though. While I was growing up, my dad would never just buy my mom flowers. Every bouquet he brought her had a special meaning. Mother' day was pink carnations for a mother's love; valentine's day was purple tulips and lovely, blue forget-me-nots for true love; he even got her an Iris for good news when we found out she was pregnant with the twins. With how much my parents loved their silly flower messages, I knew the flowers on their graves had to have special meanings, too.

"I spent hours looking through a book on flowers and their meanings in the library before I chose these ones. Rosemary for remembrance" he ran a finger over his mother's flower as he said this before moving his hand to his father's flower, "and lilac for love and memories."

Jack drew back his hand and chuckled lightly. "I still feel bad for the poor man who carved the tombs. I brought so many pictures of what I wanted on the graves with me when the Overland's took me to see him, but he didn't complain. He looked at every one of them and let me go on and on about what I wanted until the words ran out."

The others had drawn close during Jack's speech, forming a tiny circle around the kneeling duo. He looked up at them now and smiled shyly, "Sorry, I was babbling again."

Ana shook her head. "It was a lovely story, Jack. You weren't babbling at all."

Jack nodded, still looking a little shy as he asked, "So, would you guys think it was totally weird if I introduced you to them?"

Aster laughed softly and knelt down on his crush's right hand side. "Nah, mate, seems perfectly normal to me."

Jack beamed at him before beginning the introductions. He went around the circle, starting with Nick and ending with Sandy, introducing each of his friends to the marble symbols of his parent's lives. When the introductions had been completed he rose to his feet and brushed of the bits of grass that were clinging to his pants. "Thanks again for coming with me, guys."

Aster and Ana rose to their feet as well as Nick quietly replied, "Any time, Jack."

Jack nodded and took a steadying breath before speaking, "Well, it's really starting to get dark now. Come on, let's head back before we trip on someone's grave and get stuck with a vengeful ghost wandering around after us."

The others laughed and allowed him to lead them out of the cemetery. As their feet hit the pavement, Jack motioned across the street to the house directly opposite them. "Did you know that used to be the court house back when the town was founded, but then they moved to the new one downtown and the old one got turned into a house?"

"How do you know all this stuff?" Aster asked, giving the albino an amused glance and the gang began to walk down the street.

"My mom was a history teacher at the local high school," Jack explained, "so I got to learn all about the town's history whenever we went for walks. Here, watch!"

Jack turned around and began walking backwards as he played the tour guide for his four, amused friends. "The town was founded by Thaddeus Burgess in 1798 as a trading post for trappers and hunters. He and his decedents were the principle residents of the town until the mid-1800's when several new families decided to come and settle here. The street we're walking on now consists principally of houses built during this time and many of them are still occupied by the decedents of the original owners. The house directly to your left is actually owned by the decedents of Thaddeus Burgess himself, though the family no longer goes by the name Burgess due to the fact that Thomas Burgess, Thaddeus' great-great-grandson, failed to sire any male heirs.

"Now, if you look to your right you'll see we're entering the newer section of the town. As you can see, Burgess has come far from its humble roots and is now one of the largest towns in Penobscot county, Maine, even serving as the county seat. The large building with the domed roof that sits across from us is the courthouse and it is here that the accused arsonist, Pitchford Black, will be put on trial come the 20th of February," Jack casually proclaimed as they made their way along the empty street past the building.

The amused looks on the gang's faces disappeared. Ana, Nick, and Sandy looked worriedly at their pretend guide as Aster interrupted his crush mid-sentence to irritably ask, "Why didn't you tell us, Jack?"

Jack grinned, ignoring his friend's anger, "I think I just did, silly."

"When did you find out?" Ana questioned.

"You guys are a really noisy tour group, you know that?" When no one laughed, Jack's smile wavered slightly and he explained, "I found out when the police came to take my official testimony on Wednesday."

Aster was a little concerned how unsurprised he was that Jack hadn't told them about these events until now. His crush called them his friends, maybe even considered them something close to family, but it seemed that he was still hesitant to say or do anything that wouldn't be considered fun when he was around them unless it was forced out of him.

They turned onto the street that lead to the rec center as Nick started to inquire about the trial details. Jack answered all the questions without letting his smile falter, but Aster was silently wishing the albino would just let himself be sad so that they could actually comfort him. He wanted Jack to cry so that, when the tears were all spent, he could see that wonderfully real and incredible smile that so rarely graced his crush's face take up a permanent residency there.


	13. Oh

It soon became apparent that Jack's nonchalant attitude about the trial was a complete sham. As the 20th of February drew ever closer, his health began to deteriorate rapidly. Bags appeared under his icy-blue eyes and even the smallest, unexpected touch made the normally easy-going teen stiffen. The only things that seemed to keep him going were his weekend visits with the twins and helping Aster get ready for Easter once the order of new baskets arrived. The others would have been glad to help with this task, but Jack was still the only person, other than himself, that Aster trusted to do an acceptable job of painting.

Every day, the albino would follow the Australian home after school to help him work on painting the wicker egg holders bright, spring colors for an hour or so and then he'd head back to the Overland's to lie on his bed and stare at the ceiling for hours. He barely touched his homework during this time, but his teachers didn't punish him. Everyone knew about the trial thanks to the papers and the news.

By unspoken agreement, Aster and Ana had ceased their endeavors to sway Jack's affections and Aster had even stopped wearing the "bad-boy" clothes, save for the leather jacket. There would be time to try and win Jack's heart later; right now they were more worried about getting the albino through the trial alive. The duo now spent their time with the albino trying to keep a smile on his face and Aster took it upon himself to make Jack laugh at least once a day. Surprisingly, when he was sick with worry about his crush, it was pretty easy to keep his emotions in check.

Aster would have given anything to return to his former state of being a blubbering idiot, though, if it meant that Jack would be his normal self, but as the weeks passed and Jack continued to look worse and worse, Aster started to wonder if he'd even see Jack's true smile again.

* * *

The bell rang, making Jack jump slightly before he sighed and tiredly grabbed his backpack from the floor, holding back a yawn. He was so tired and so sick of nightmares. What he wouldn't give for a decent, dreamless sleep.

With a heavy heart and clenched fists, he made his way out of the classroom to where a smiling Ana was waiting for him, leaning against the wall by the door as she did every day. He gave her a tired greeting and then they began to move through the hallways towards their final class of the day.

As they walked, Ana happily chattered about how her day had been going and Jack shuffled along beside her, content to just listen. He was so tired he wanted to collapse and he could feel the beginnings of a headache pounding against his brow. Two weeks. Two weeks until he had to face Pitch for the first time since the fire. Two weeks until he had to tell a bunch of strangers how his first love had almost killed him _twice_. Two weeks to hell. The mere thought made him feel sick.

They turned a corner and Aster came into view, walking the opposite way with Nick and Sandy by his side.

The sight of his best friend made Jack smile despite how tired, scared, and worn out he felt. He couldn't wait for school to be over so he could go to Aster's house and paint. He was pretty certain that his daily visits to the Bunnymund house was the only thing keeping him from breaking down due to the growing terror in his heart and the never-ending attack of the nightmares.

He really couldn't express how grateful he was that Aster never talked about the trial around him or commented on how terrible he looked. All the Australian ever did was talk about painting, books, Sophie, or the twins. Things that made Jack smile, laugh, and forget about his fears for a while. It was like heaven.

As always, Ana and Jack waved at the trio of boys as they passed each other in the hallway. They made this exchange every day between seventh and eighth period, but today something was different. As Aster casually raised his hand and waved back, Jack suddenly found his heart racing as blood rushed to his cheeks. Thoughts of bright-green eyes and deep, rich laughter pushed aside all others and the albino found himself stumbling down the hallway in a state of shock. Though the dazed teen continued to move along with the crowd, he had stopped watching where he was going, his mind floating in a happy ether a thousand miles away. He was so far gone that Ana had to grab onto his arm and pull him to a stop to keep him from running into a wall.

"Jack, what's wrong?" she asked, several weeks' worth of concern evident in her voice.

A breathy "Oh" was his only reply.

"Jack?" She asked again, even more worried now that she'd had time to notice his flushed cheeks and uneven breathing pattern.

He looked at her with widened eyes and made a few strangled sounds, but nothing coherent escaped his pale lips.

"Jack, do you need to go to the nurse?" Ana raised a hand and placed it against his forehead, checking his temperature. He did feel a little on the warm side, but he shook his head in denial when she suggested a possible fever. He didn't offer another explanation, though. He was too busy staring at her with his eyes full of swirling emotions to even think about speaking.

Ana was annoyed now and in full on mama mode, "Then tell me what's wrong or I am _dragging_ you to the nurse's office, mister."

He nodded and pointed to the classroom behind them, which was thankfully unused this period. Ana guided him inside the empty room and forced him to sit down on the floor in case he fainted. Once that task was complete, she crossed her arms, looked down at him, and demanded, "_What_ is going on, Jack?"

The albino was grinning with wonder now and all the thoughts that had been rushing around his head started to pour from his mouth, "It's just that I realized I, I don't know why I didn't notice it sooner! How long have I felt like this? I guess things were just so crazy that I, I don't know! It's the most wonderful thing and, boy are his eyes the most _amazing_ shade of green."

Ana was starting to get angry, "Jack! What. Is. Going. On?"

The albino's grin turned into the smile that had captured his secret admirer's heart all those months ago and he started to laugh as the words, "I think I'm in love with Aster!" burst forth from his lips.


	14. It'd be Cute if it Wasn't so Aggravating

Ana stared down at her smiling friend for a full minute before finally managing to get out the words, "Come again?" in a voice full of shock and disbelief.

"I'm in love with Aster!" Jack reiterated, his smile growing even brighter.

"Since _when_?"

He shrugged, but the smile never faltered. "I don't know! I mean, I only just realized it, but I think it's been happening for a while."

Ana looked down at Jack and frowned. Despite the fact that he was positively glowing with happiness, he still looked sickly and exhausted. This sudden rush of adrenaline due to his new feelings would probably start to fade soon and then Jack would be left emotionally drained as well as physically. She needed to get him somewhere safe before that happened. Chem class would have to wait.

As Jack looked on in curiosity, she pulled her cellphone from her back pocket and quickly dialed her home phone. Her mother picked up on the third ring. "Ana, dear, what's wrong?"

"Mom, a small emergency has arisen and I need to get out of my final class. Can you call the school office and sign me out?"

Mrs. Romoli knew her daughter well. The determination in Ana's voice left no doubt in her mind that whatever was going on was of the utmost importance to her child. Without a second thought, she agreed to make the call.

"Thank you so much, mom," Ana whispered gratefully into the phone. "I'll be home soon and I'm bringing Jack with me."

Mrs. Romoli acknowledged the information and hung up the phone as Ana snapped hers shut and grabbed ahold of Jack's arm. "Come on, lover boy, we're leaving. You can sign yourself out now that you're eighteen, right?"

Jack looked confused and maybe even a little lost. "Yeah, but don't we have class?"

"You are in no state to go to class," Ana decreed, dragging him out into the deserted hallway.

Jack was about to argue that he was fine when a wave of exhaustion coursed through him, almost making him stumble. Okay, maybe he wasn't fine. Wordlessly, he allowed Ana to take him to the school's office.

Thankfully, the secretary had already gotten Ana's mother's call, so she was free to go, and Jack's status as an independent allowed him to sign himself out for the day. Being an eighteen year old orphan had its perks.

Once they'd retrieved their coats from their lockers they left the school, headed for Ana's. As they walked, Jack allowed Ana to hold his hand and pull him along behind her. He was so tired that it was taking all of his willpower just to walk straight. Ana seemed to be able to sense this and kept him going with a happy stream of chatter about how he was going to have to give her all the juicy details about his crush once he'd taken a nice, long nap. Every time she mentioned Aster's name Jack felt his heart skip a beat and a warm feeling coursed through him, but that was a good thing. It kept him awake and moving.

A worried Mrs. Romoli was waiting for them by the door and, the moment she got a good look at Jack, she told Ana to take him up to the guest room and bustled off to the kitchen to get him something to drink. Jack gave her a weary sounding thanks and allowed Ana to lead him to the guest room where he immediately collapsed on the bed. He didn't even mind when Ana took his shoes off for him or when she helped him out of his coat.

Once these were gone, Ana adjusted the pillows under his head to a more comfortable position as her mother came in with a tall glass of orange juice. Jack managed to stammer out some form of appreciation when he took the glass from her, but Mrs. Romoli just smiled and told him to get some rest before leaving the two teens alone.

The albino took a drink of the orange juice and smiled tiredly at Ana before letting out a huge yawn. Ana laughed, relieved to finally see Jack admitting to how tired he was, and took the drink from him, setting it on the bedside table. "I am not having you spill orange juice all over yourself."

He nodded. That would be bad. Then a thought occurred to him and he started to rise from the bed. "What about Aster? He's going to be waiting for us after school! We have to be there so he doesn't worry!"

Ana placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back onto the bed. It frightened her how easy it was to do that, but she didn't let it show on her face. "I'll send him a text, okay?"

"Oh, texting, right. Good plan. Can't have Aster worry." Jack mumbled out the words as his eyelids started to droop. "I should call. Let him know."

"Jack, you're starting to sound delirious. I'll take care of everything for you. Right now you need to sleep."

"But Aster…"

"Wants you to sleep, too!" Ana declared, gently running her fingers along the sleepy teens face in a motherly caress.

"He does?" Jack sounded more asleep than awake now and Ana used that to her advantage.

"Yes, Aster would be very happy if you'd sleep, Jack. You want him to be happy, right?"

"Yes," Jack smiled and closed his eyes. "Aster happy. Good."

The mumbling grew softer and petered out into soft breathing. Once she was sure he was asleep, Ana sighed and pushed herself off of the bed. Time to go and text Aster. If she knew her friend as well as she thought she did, she would soon have to deal with a distraught Australian demanding to see Jack. This would be _fun_.

* * *

Aster threw open the door, rushed into the Romoli's house, and flew up the stairs, not even taking the time to remove his coat or shoes. Upon reaching the second floor, he burst into Ana's room only to find her calmly sitting on her bed, working on her homework. "Where is he?"

Ana looked up at him and treated him to an annoyed stare as a cool breeze wafted through her room. "Did you even bother to close the front door when you charged in here?"

"Ana." The word came out as a growl.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Aster, calm down. He's fine."

Aster looked like he was close to hysterics. "Calm down? You tell me that Jack is sick and then expect me to _calm down_ without even seeing him?"

"I said he wasn't feeling well, not that he was sick," she calmly explained as she laid her homework to the side and rose to her feet. "Now, you are marching back downstairs, taking off your shoes, and closing the front door, then we'll talk."

"…you promise he's okay?"

Ana smiled comfortingly. "Yes. He's actually sound asleep."

Aster's shoulders slumped and he looked immensely relieved. "Bloody hell, Ana. When I got your text I swear my heart stopped. He's just looked so terrible lately that I, I…"

He leaned against the doorway and hid his face in his hands, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart.

Ana walked over to his side, reached up, and laid a hand against his shoulder. "Come on, silly."

He allowed her to guide him back down the stairs to the foyer. Here, he removed his shoes and coat as she shut the door. Once that was done, the duo sat down on the stairs.

Aster had his hands clasped tightly in his lap and he was still breathing pretty hard from running all the way here, but Ana was willing to wait for him to calm down. She knew her mother wouldn't bother them and Baby was playing at her aunt's today, so they didn't have to worry about a horde of little girls attacking them.

When the Australian's breathing had finally calmed down he whispered, "Ana, I'm scared."

She leaned her head against his shoulder, a familiar gesture that she knew he'd come to find oddly comforting over the years, and asked, "Of what?"

"About what's going to happen to Jack. It's like he's wasting away before my eyes. Every day it gets a little harder to make him laugh and now this. I'm scared he's never going to go back to his old self."

_Oh Aster, if only you knew. What happened today was probably the best possible thing for Jack because, now, he's got you to make him forget all about Pitch._ Though the idea of telling her friend about Jack's confession was incredibly tempting, Ana didn't. Those feelings weren't hers to tell. Instead, she reached over and pulled his hands apart, taking his right hand in her left. "He's going to come back. We just have to be here for him and believe in him."

She looked at her friend now and frowned. For the first time, she noticed the dark shadows under his eyes. She'd been so worried about Jack that she hadn't been paying enough attention to Aster, apparently. "Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

He chuckled softly. "Maybe a little. It's hard to have a good night's sleep when you know the guy you love isn't."

She got to her feet and pulled him onto his. "Come on, you need something to calm your nerves."

They went into the kitchen where Mrs. Romoli was working on dinner and Ana prepared two cups of tea as Aster slumped at the kitchen table, resting his pounding head in his hands. When Ana glanced over at him, the sight made her heart clench. He looked almost as bad as Jack.

"Here," she handed him the warm beverage, making him look up and drawing his mind away from the world of gloomy thoughts, "one cup of Australian Afternoon Tea with cream and sugar, just how you like it."

Aster took the beige beverage from her, wrapping his hands around the steaming mug and letting them soak in the warmth while Ana took a seat across from him. His warm, green eyes studied his friend as she took a sip of her own tea and he couldn't help but smile. "Ana?"

"Yeah?"

"You're something else, you know that?"

She laughed. "You're being sweet? Now I know you're sleep deprived!"

His smile widened and he took a sip of the tea, savoring the rich, earthy flavor before he swallowed.

They drank their tea in comfortable silence, the only sound being that of Mrs. Romoli chopping up carrots. Once the tea was gone, Ana rinsed out the cups and placed them in the dishwasher before leading Aster upstairs to the guestroom. Together, they peeked in and watched Jack's peacefully sleeping form for a few minutes before closing the door and going to Ana's room. Here, Ana took a seat on her bed and Aster sat down backwards in her desk chair, resting his arms and head against its back. Now that he'd seen that Jack was indeed alright he wanted details.

"So, what happened?"

_Jack realized he's in love with you and then had something of a meltdown._ Life would be so much easier for her if she didn't have to let the two idiots realize their mutual feelings on their own. "I think Jack finally realized just how tired he was. Right after we passed you guys in the hall he started to act all funny. I knew something was up so I made him come home with me and lie down. As you can see, I was right."

Aster nodded, but he looked a little sad. "I just wish that I'd been able to help him realize that instead of just making him laugh and smile."

It took a lot of effort for Ana to keep from breaking into hysterical laughter at the irony of that statement. "Aster, I think you did more than you're giving yourself credit for."

"You think so?" He looked at her hopefully.

Ana nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"I hope so." He stared out of Ana's window. It had started to snow and he found watching the snow fall oddly calming. It made him think of Jack: soft, pale, and beautiful. He'd started to appreciate winter a lot more since he'd fallen for the albino. "How long do you think he's going to sleep for?"

Ana shrugged and leaned back against the covers of her bed, staring up at her ceiling. "Who knows? I'm guessing he's going to be out for a while with how tired he was. Even if he does wake up, I doubt I'm going to let him go home by himself. I'll probably call the Overlands in a bit and let them know that Jack passed out here after school. I doubt they'll mind if he spends the night, but I don't want them worried."

Aster made a sound of approval and continued to watch the snow. When Jack woke up he was going to be so excited to see the fresh snow. He loved snow. The sound of the door opening pull his gaze away from the outside world. Was Jack awake?

It wasn't Jack.

"Ana, I'm home!" Baby called as she came running into the room.

Ana sat up and picked up her baby sister, pulling her into a tight hug. "I didn't think you'd be home until late, sweetie."

Baby hugged her sister back and giggled. "Auntie Laura sent me home early because Lea has lots of homework to do."

Aster watched the two sisters in silent amusement. Baby looked so much like Ana had when she was little that it was kind-of scary, but it did bring back fond memories of days long gone. Then he noticed a piece of paper the child had dropped on the ground when Ana had grabbed her.

"What's the paper, Baby?" He asked.

The little girl squirmed out of Ana's arms and grabbed the paper off the floor, handing it to her sibling. "I made you a valentine's day card!"

Ana laughed and took the paper, which had a crude drawing of two human-like figures and a heart on one side. "Isn't it a little early for giving out valentines?"

Baby shook her head, "Lea said you have to give them early if you want someone to be your valentine, that way someone else doesn't get them first!"

"Oh, are you asking me to be your valentine?" Ana question.

"Yes!" was the eager reply.

Aster chuckled. "Baby, what's a valentine?"

She looked at him in disbelief and cocked her head to the side. "Don't you know?"

Of course Aster knew, but he was curious what the child thought the term meant. "Nope, can you tell me?"

"If a person is your valentine, then they promise to love you forever!"

"I see," the Australian said, trying to keep from laughing at how adorable the child was, knowing she wouldn't understand. "I think Ana would love you forever even if she wasn't your valentine."

"I know, but this way she _has_ to!" Baby explained, her violet eyes wide.

Ana giggled and pulled her sister into a hug. "Of course I'll be your valentine, Baby."

The child beamed. "Good! Can we play dress up now?"

"Not right now, sweetie. I can't abandon Aster."

"He can play, too."

Ana gave Aster a questioning look and he shrugged. "Why not? It's not like I'm going to be able to go home and paint until I know for sure that he's okay."

"Know who's okay?" Baby asked, looking from one teen to the other.

Ana placed the child on the ground and stood up. "Jack's sleeping in the guest room right now, Baby. He wasn't feeling well so I brought him here to sleep and Aster's worried about him."

"Can I see him?"

"I think it'd be better if we just let him sleep, okay?"

Baby pouted lightly, but agreed. Seeing the little girl's disappointment, Aster stood up and knelt down to her level. "Would a piggyback make it better?"

The pout was gone, replaced with an excited grin as she nodded eagerly.

Once Baby was positioned securely on his back, he let Ana lead them down to the playroom.

* * *

The smell of something wonderful roused Jack from his slumber. He was still tired, but gnawing hunger beat sleep any day. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and followed the scent downstairs towards the kitchen, the sound of laughter caught his attention. A quick course change later, found him following the noise of mirth to the playroom where he Ana and Aster were playing with Baby. The sight of his newly realized crush made heat rush to Jack's cheeks and, in the few seconds it took the others to notice his presence, Jack went from pale to crimson.

Aster took one look at his crush's flushed cheeks and rushed to his side.

Jack took a step back as the tall Australian placed a tan hand against his forehead and down at him in concern. "Ana, I thought you said he was just tired! He's burning up!"

Jack tried to say something, but all that came out was gibberish due to Aster's proximity. This just made the taller teen look more worried.

"Okay, you need to get back to bed, mate."

Before Jack had time to register what was happening, Aster had picked him up in his arms bridal style and was carrying him back to the guest room. This only made his blush intensify.

Meanwhile, Ana was watching the scene unfold with intense amusement. _She_ knew why Jack was so hot. This was too ridiculous, but what could she do? She couldn't just tell Aster why Jack was suddenly running a temperature.

Baby, who had been too surprised by Jack's appearance and Aster's reaction to it to react at first, was now tugging on Ana's hand. "Come on, we gotta follow them!"

Ana shook her head, grinning. "No, sweetie, let's let them be for now. Why don't we go and see if mom will let us take Jack some food? I highly doubt Aster's going to let him come down to dinner until that temperature's gone and I have a feeling that won't be happening anytime soon."

Baby was confused by her sister's actions, but agreed and allowed Ana to lead her into the kitchen.

* * *

Jack was still blushing when Aster laid him on the bed and sat down by his side. This was the first time he'd seen the other teen since he'd realized his feelings and all he wanted to do was grab the Australian and kiss him. Which was strange, because he'd never felt the urge to kiss Pitch. All he'd ever wanted was for Pitch to hold him, be nice to him, or even just show him a tiny scrap of affection. Aster, on the other hand, made him want to do a lot more than that. Maybe that was because Aster already did everything Pitch never had.

Like right now, Pitch would never have thought to carry Jack to bed or to fuss over him like a mother hen. Watching Aster babble on about taking care of himself, Jack felt a stupid grin taking over his face, but he didn't try to fight it. He just lay there and listened to his love's deep, worry filled voice wash over him. He could listen to Aster talk for hours, days even. How had he not realized that meant he was in love before now? His mind wondered away from the bedroom as he started to try and figure out when he first started to fall for Aster.

The Australian noticed none of this, too full of worry to notice the stupid grin and loving gaze of his crush. "Now, promise me you won't leave this bed again, okay?"

"I think it was at the lake." Jack stated, not realizing he'd spoken the words aloud.

"What lake?"

Jack started at Aster's question, not realizing he'd spoken aloud. With a nervous laugh, he grinned at his crush and said, "It's nothing, honestly. I'm just delirious."

Now Aster knew something was up. "Yeah, right, like I'm going to believe that. Wanna try again?"

"Just thinking out loud," was the nervous reply.

"About what?"

Jack looked at Aster, intending to try and explain his outburst, but then their eyes met. Blue stared into green and both boys found themselves unable to talk. Jack's blush started to intensify and Aster felt heat starting to rise to his own face.

_Oh no, he's going to notice something's up!_

Both boys were so worried about their own reactions being noticed that they failed to notice the identical ones taking place on the face of their crush. It was only when Ana and Baby came in with food for Jack that they stopped staring at each other.

One look at their guilty, red faces told Ana all she needed to know: nothing had happened while they were alone together.

It took a good deal of effort for the matchmaker to keep from banging her head against the wall.


	15. Be My Valentine?

Aster's heart was pounding. How long had he been lost in Jack's eyes? Had Jack noticed what was up? Probably not. He looked far too delirious to notice much of anything. Aster had never thought he'd be thankful for Jack's ill health, but right now he certainly was.

Ana set down a tray of food on Jack's bedside table and Baby handed the albino a glass of water, looking at Jack's face curiously. "Jack, why are you all red? Are you sick?"

Jack shook his head and took a sip of water. "No, I'm alright, Baby. Just a little tired."

"Then you should sleep!" She announced, lightly patting his hand as she did so.

He laughed and smiled at her softly. "That sounds like a good idea, but I should probably eat first."

Baby accepted this proposal, but insisted that they all stay with him while he ate. Aster took a seat in the room's desk chair while Ana and Baby positioned themselves on the bed. At first, Jack seemed a little hesitant to eat with so many people watching, but Ana soon remedied that. She started to babble on about her day and then made Baby tell them all about her valentine's day card.

By the time Baby was explaining what a valentine was, the hungry teen had devoured everything on his plate and Ana had run downstairs to grab more. While they waited for her return Baby scooted across the bed until she was sitting by Jack's side.

The five-year-old leaned against his shoulder and asked, "Jack, who's going to be your valentine?"

As the pale teen blushed and started to stammer out an answer, Aster found himself holding his breath. What would Jack say?

"I, I don't know, Baby. I didn't really plan to have one this year."

This was not an acceptable response. "But you have to have a valentine! Lea said so!"

Jack laughed. "Did she now? Okay, will you be my valentine then?"

Baby shook her head. "No! I'm _Ana's_ valentine! You have to ask someone else."

"Can't you have two valentines?" Jack asked, pretending to not understand.

"No! You can only have one each year."

"Well, if I can't have you or Ana then I guess I'll have to go loveless this year," Jack replied sadly.

He'd meant it as a joke, but Baby looked heartbroken at the confession. Tiny tears welled up in her violet eyes and she whimpered out the words. "You can't go loveless, Jack. That's too sad! Everyone needs to be loved!"

Jack tried to calm her down, but the tears were already cascading down her cheeks at the thought of Jack being left all alone without love. Aster got up from his seat and sat down on the bed beside Baby, sandwiching her between him and Jack. He ran a tan hand through her hair and said, "Baby, it's okay. Jack won't be left alone on valentine's day. He'll have me, Sandy, and Nick to hang out with."

Baby sniffled lightly and looked up at Aster. "But he still won't have a valentine and Lea said that means you'll never fall in love."

Aster made a mental note to talk to Mrs. Romoli about the nonsense Lea was being allowed to preach, but aloud he said, "That's not true, Baby. I haven't had a valentine in years and I'm certain I'll still find love."

This admission didn't seem to help and Baby started to cry again, wailing about how Jack and Aster were doomed to loveless lives. The boys exchanged worried looks. They didn't know how to deal with this one.

Just then, Ana returned with a tray of food. She took one look at her baby sister and rushed to the bed, setting the food down on the bedside table, before crawling onto the sheets and sitting before her baby sister. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"Jack and Aster are gonna die alone!" Was the hysterical reply.

Based on how her two friend's love lives were currently progressing Ana could very well believe this statement, but she didn't know how Baby could have caught onto her friend's romance issues. Their feelings were pretty obvious, but not _that_ obvious. She pulled the child into her arms and stroked her hair, whispering, "Baby, why do you say that?"

"Because they don't have valentines!"

Ana blinked in surprise before a wicked idea entered her mind. "Well, we'll just have to fix that!"

Baby stopped crying and pulled out of Ana's hug, looking at her sister in confusion. "We will?"

Both boys were looking on in horror. They had a vague idea where this was going.

"Yes! If neither of them have a valentine then they'll just have to be each other's. That way they won't have to die alone."

Baby clapped her hands, her eyes full of excitement. "Yes!"

She turned to the boys, looking as serious as a five-year-old can, and commanded, "You have to be each other's valentine and promise to love each other forever!"

Ana was grinning and holding back laughter at the looks on the boy's faces. They both seemed very enamored with the idea, but reluctant to admit that aloud. Then another idea occurred to her. "Baby, they can't just say it."

The little girl looked at her sister. "They can't?"

"No. Remember, you gave me that lovely card when you asked me."

Baby's mouth widened into a tiny 'o' before she grinned and nodded, "Yes! They have to make cards!"

Ana hopped off the bed. "I'll go get the card supplies from the playroom then."

And then she was gone, leaving two shell-shocked teenage males and an excited child in her wake.

* * *

"I'm going to kill you." Aster declared as he sketched a snowflake on the pale, blue paper. He was sitting in the hallway outside of the guestroom, making his valentine with Ana's help while Baby and Jack made their own inside. The little girl had insisted the cards be made where the intended receiver couldn't see for the 'valentine's day magic' to work and neither boy had complained. Having to do this was bad enough, making the cards with their crush present would have been torture.

"I'll deal," Ana replied as she watched him draw. Aster's card was a snowy, winter scene with a shadowed couple kissing under a dim streetlamp. She noticed with interest that the couple appeared to be two males, but didn't comment on it. On the top of the card were written the words 'Be Mine?' in flowing, cursive script.

Aster glowered and continued to draw as he fought back yet another blush. He was really getting sick of having a permanent red tint to his face.

Inside the room, Baby was watching with glee as Jack drew tiny red hearts on a piece of pink paper. The words, "I'm Yours" were scrawled in cursive in the center of the card in silver lettering. Jack had picked them out himself, but had made Baby promise to tell Aster it had been her idea. His card wasn't an artistic masterpiece like Asters. It was simple, plain, and straight from Jack's aching heart.

He'd only been aware of his crush for a matter of hours now and already it was driving him mad. He blamed it on the sleep deprivation.

A knock on the door drew the duo's attention from the card and Jack called, "come in." A nervous looking Aster stepped in with Ana hovering behind him. Jack could feel his face flushing at the sight of the card in his crush's hand. This was going to be interesting.

For the longest time neither teen said a word. They merely stared down at their cards, fighting blushes and hoping they'd be able to ask the dreaded question without stammering too badly. Finally, Baby got sick of waiting. She nudged Jack pointedly and the albino shivered slightly before holding out his card and whispering, "Aster, will you be my valentine?"

The Australian knew it was just to make Baby happy, but the words still made his heart soar. He grinned at his furiously blushing crush and took the card from his outstretched hand, replacing it with his own. "Only if you'll be mine."

Jack smiled at him and nodded happily. For a moment, Aster actually believed this was what Jack really wanted.

Then Baby started to clap and the moment was gone. Ana marched around Aster and made to grab the little girl as she said, "Okay, time for Jack to sleep," but Baby avoided her.

"We have to tuck him in, first!"

Ana laughed and nodded, knowing that Baby was a firm believer in the power of being tucked in.

Smiling, Baby leaned forward and kissed Jack on the forehead with a whisper of "Get well soon." Then she turned to Ana and gave her an expectant look. Ana mirrored her sister's actions, kissing Jack softly on his forehead and giving him a tiny wink as she pulled back. Once Ana had completed the ritual Baby turned her gaze on Aster and the Australian's eyes widened as he realized what she wanted him to do. He knew there was no way out of it, too.

Blushing, he nervously stepped forward, leaned down, and brushed his lips against the pale skin of Jack's cheek. After a moment, he pulled back and smiled goofily at his crush, unsure what to do next. Jack seemed just as lost so Ana rolled her eyes and dragged Aster out of the room.


	16. Nothing's Getting Better

Ana stood before her mirror, yawing lightly as she brushed her hair. A few deft motions later she had most of it pulled back into a high ponytail, leaving the only the dyed portions free to frame her face. She'd need to re-dye them soon; maybe she'd do that after school on Friday?

Her hair taken care of, she grabbed today's poncho - a purple one with bits of silver glitter in it - and left the room. The smell of something delicious and cinnamony filled her nostrils as she entered the hallway, but she turned away from source of the tempting odor and headed to Jack's room instead. She knocked on the door, but he didn't respond. Figuring that the albino was still fast asleep, Ana entered the room, intent on waking him for breakfast.

Jack was already awake, though, curled up into a tight ball on the floor by his bed, his head hidden in his arms. The sight filled Ana with concern and she was soon kneeling by his side, a hand against his shoulder as she asked, "Jack, what's wrong?"

He groaned and looked up at her. Ana had to hold back a gasp. He looked even worse than he had yesterday! His eyes were bloodshot and the circles under them were darker than ever. _Did he sleep at all?_

"Jack, are you okay?"

He shook his head and smiled sadly. "I can't get him out of my head, Ana, no matter how hard I try."

Ana sighed and turned around so she was sitting against the bed as well. She leaned back against the mattress and asked, "Why not just ask him out?"

Jack blinked, unsure what Ana was talking about. Hadn't they established that Pitch was a _past_ crush? Even if he wasn't, asking him out didn't strike Jack as a good idea. Then his tired brain finally connected the dots. Oh, she wasn't talking about Pitch. Good, better to not worry her and just play along, then. "Ask him out? Ana, Aster's the best friend I've ever had. I don't wanna lose him."

_Oh honestly_. "Lose him?"

Jack nodded and burred his head in his arms once again. He was so tired. So very, very tired. Damn his nightmares, but Ana couldn't know about those. That would be bad and talking about Aster helped. It grounded him. "If I ask him out then things are gonna be weird between us after he rejects me. I, I can't take that right now. Not with the trial coming up. I need Aster to be there for me, not awkwardly avoiding me."

He let out a tiny, desperate laugh as he remembered how foolishly he'd acted the previous evening. At least he could tell her this truth, "Then again, maybe it wouldn't matter because I'll probably be avoiding him anyway."

Ana's annoyance with the albino faded away. With a kind smile she looped an arm around his shoulders and asked, "What if he says yes?"

Jack stiffened. She could tell he hadn't even considered that an option. "Says yes?"

"Yeah! What if Aster says yes?"

Jack was looking at her again, his face unreadable. "I, I don't know."

Ana wasn't sure how to interpret that response. "Don't you want him to say yes?"

Jack turned his gaze to the room's wall, lost in thought. He hadn't even thought about that yet. He was still getting used to the idea of being in love with the gorgeous Australian and the idea that the feelings were mutual had never once occurred. For the first time since he'd woken up in the middle of the night, Jack stopped thinking about his nightmare. He thought of how kind Aster had been of late and he almost smiled, but then he thought of how he'd been acting. Who'd want to date someone who couldn't even sleep for more than three hours at a time and woke up gasping in terror?

Ana wiggled her toes, oblivious to her words true effect, and waited for Jack to talk.

"Yes. I want him to say yes more than anything."

Jack's voice was desperate as he spoke, still staring at the wall. "But what could Aster possibly see in me? I'm a mess, Ana."

"Jack, you're not a mess…"

"Yes, I am!" He was still refusing to look at her. "I have _nothing_ to offer someone like Aster. Aster's kind, talented, and just so much, so much _more_ than I could ever be. I'm… glad for these feelings, but Aster deserves a partner who can give him something other than a headache in return. At least with Pitch he was just as messed up as me…"

Ana wrapped her arms around Jack, cutting of his rant, and he hugged her back, burying his face against her shoulder. She gently ran a hand along his back in a comforting motion and whispered, "Love isn't about being worthy, Jack. It's not a contest. I bet that, if Aster loved you, he wouldn't care how messed up your past was. You already give him more than you realize."

He pulled back, startled. "I do? What do I give him?"

"He always smiles when you're around and I've never seen him let someone paint with him," Ana explained, keeping her voice calm and reassuring as she spoke.

Jack smiled shyly, his eyes alight with pleasure, "Really?"

"Really," She got to her feet and held out a hand to the curled up teen. "Come on, let's go get some food. My mom makes a mean pancake."

The mention of food made Jack's stomach growl and he laughed, allowing Ana to pull him to his feet. "That sounds delicious."

* * *

Despite their talk, Ana could see Jack's doubts coming out the moment they joined Aster for the walk to school. Instead of smiling and joking with his friend, Jack made sure to keep Ana between them and barely made eye contact with the other boy.

His actions didn't go unnoticed by Aster. At first, he'd tried to talk with Jack, but the albino's curt answers soon made them fall in tense silence. Ana tried to ease the tension, but nothing worked. In the end, they spent the whole walk with Jack staring at the ground and Aster glaring straight ahead of him while Ana watched the train wreck helplessly.

When they got to school, Jack made up some excuse about needing to see a teacher and rushed inside, leaving Ana and Aster to join their waiting companions without him. Aster's whole body slumped as he watched Jack leave and he barely spoke a word until it was time to go to class.

As he left, the other boys hung back, hoping Ana could shed some light on the situation.

Nick spoke first as he watched a defeated looking Aster enter the building, "What's going on between him and Jack?"

Ana sighed and clasped her hands together behind her back, "It's complicated, Nick. Just, don't talk to him about it. I'm not sure what we should do, but for now let's just try and keep their minds off each other, okay?"

Nick stared at her for a moment before asking, "What, did Aster finally ask Jack out and get rejected?"

Ana and Sandy gaped at him and Nick's worried frown turned into an indignant pout.

"You know, I'm not _that_ oblivious."

* * *

Lunch time was even worse. Instead of getting his food and joining Aster like usual, Jack waited in the cafeteria for the rest of the gang to avoid being alone with the Australian. When they sat down at their normal table, Jack took the seat farthest from Aster and immediately began reading a book. He didn't stop until it was time to go and, then, he almost ran away from them.

As he fled, Aster looked heartbroken.

* * *

After the final bell of the day rang, Ana moved across the classroom to Jack's side. "So, how are you feeling?"

Jack laughed nervously. "I'm actually feeling a little sick, so I'm gonna head straight back to the Overlands, okay? Let Aster know for me."

He jumped up from his desk to leave, but Ana stopped him. "Jack, this has to stop. You can't just avoid Aster forever. He already knows something's up."

Jack suddenly found the floor oddly fascinating. "I know…"

"Jack…" Ana tried to keep her voice from sounding upset, but failed.

He flinched at her tone. "I'm sorry. I'll try to take things back to normal tomorrow. Just, let me avoid him a little longer."

Then he was flying around her and out the door, leaving Ana staring after him with saddened eyes.

* * *

Aster took one look at the basket he was working on and held back a growl. It looked almost as terrible as he felt. What had happened with Jack? Just yesterday things had been fine between them and now he was treating Aster like a plague barer. It hurt. It hurt _a lot_.

He set the basket to the side and got up off the floor. He couldn't paint anything pretty when he felt like this, he needed to clear his head.

Knowing just what to do, Aster entered the hallway and called, "Hey, Sophie, wanna go to the park?"

His baby sister came running from the playroom, her eyes bright with excitement. "Yes!"

Her excitement instantly lifted Aster's spirits. He didn't even have to force the smile that came to his face. "Alright, let's go get on your snow clothes!"

The two Bunnymund children suited up in snow pants, scarves, gloves, and coats, then Aster got a pink sled out of the garage. Sophie jumped up and down with excitement, making Aster laugh. As much as Aster hated the cold of winter, Sophie love it.

"Okay, you know the rules," he said, holding out his hand to her.

She nodded and held onto him tightly as they left the house and walked to the neighborhood park. Here, they spent the remaining hours before sunset sledding and building a very impressive snowman. During the whole adventure, a happy grin never left Aster's face.

His worries were still there, of course, but Sophie's smiles and laughter pushed them away for a while.

* * *

Jack was curled up into a tight ball on his bed, the Valentine 's Day card that Aster had made him now fastened to the wall next to the artist teen's sketch, but Jack wasn't looking at them. Instead, he was staring blankly out across his room. He could barely think with how hard his head was pounding, let alone focus his exhausted eyes.

He didn't even notice when Mrs. Overland quietly pushed the door open and peaked in, her blue eyes full of worry.

As she took in his pained form, her grip on the door handle tightened. Ever since the fire, things had been tense in the Overland household and it felt like Jack was even less of a son than he'd ever been.

When they'd signed up to be foster parents, the agency had warned them that foster children often came with issues, but she hadn't understood what that meant until they'd got Jack: a little boy lost in a dark world, unwilling to open up to anyone.

It wasn't fair. All she'd wanted was a child to love, but she'd never had that. Jack was always more of a boarder than a child. Now he wasn't even that. Her foster son was barely more than a phantom of a person.

* * *

Ana slumped down in her seat by Sandy. It was study hall and she'd about had it. She could barely concentrate on any of her classes she was so worried about the two idiots. "Sandy, they're going to drive me to an early grave! It was bad enough when I just had to deal with Aster. I _know_ Aster, so I could comfort him and make him feel better. With Jack I just don't have a clue. He won't even talk to me about it!"

The smaller teen frowned and nodded in agreement. This was starting to look grim. Yesterday, Jack hadn't even joined them in the sleigh and then he'd read a book all lunch to keep from talking to anyone. He hadn't even gone home with Aster to help paint, saying he felt too tired and needed to sleep. Today, Jack had joined them in the morning, but he'd been awkward and fidgety the entire time. The growing tension between him and Aster had left them all feeling sick.

If Sandy had to guess, the weight of the trial combined with Jack's new crush was leaving the albino a nervous wreck. He looked it, too. His eyes were blood shot, it didn't look like he'd even tried to comb his hair, and Sandy was pretty sure he was wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing the day before. If someone didn't do something, Jack was going to land in the hospital sooner than the witness stand.

A determined look came over Sandy's face. It was time for him to take action.

* * *

Nick wanted to yell at Jack when he saw the albino waiting for them once again at lunch. This was just so wrong. Instead, he grinned at Jack and asked, "Forget your way to our table?"

Jack tried to smile, but it looked more like a terrified grimace. "Nope, just waiting for you guys!"

He fell into step with them and Nick exchanged a look with Sandy. The smaller teen winked at him and Nick felt relief surge through him. If anyone could come up with a plan to stop all this, it was Sandy.

The plan obviously wasn't for lunch, though, because that was just another feast of awkwardness for the gang. Jack and Aster talked when asked a question, but every word they said sounded forced. The end of the lunch period, which was normally met with good-natured groans, was treated like a blessing.

* * *

"Are you going home with Aster today?" Ana asked.

Jack shook his head sheepishly. "I, I, um, that is to say…"

Ana groaned and stalked away from him. "I'll let Aster know you're sick again."

Jack thought about calling a "thanks" after her, but didn't. Instead, he slowly gathered his things and began the slow, depressing walk back to the Overland's. Once there, he lay on his bed and stared at Aster's drawings through bleary eyes until he fell into a restless sleep full of Pitch's laughter and Aster's rejections that ended with the albino wide-eyed and gasping in terror long before sunrise.


	17. Thank God For Sandy

Jack opened the sleigh door and climbed in, awkwardly sitting down next to Aster and doing his best not to touch him. How he'd been able to sit here, day after day, pressed so close to Aster prior to this he couldn't say, but he missed it. He missed being able to talk to Aster, but every time he tried those terrible dreams came rushing back. He wished desperately that he'd never realized his stupid crush.

As soon as he closed the jeep's door, Sandy opened his and got out of the car, making the others look after him in surprise. Then he opened Nick's door and pulled the bigger teen out of the car before leaning in and grabbing the keys. Once that was done, he pulled Nick along behind him to Ana's side and grabbed her too. Then, he dragged the startled couple away from the car and into the building. As the school's door closed behind them he shoved their hands together, making both of them start.

They stared down at their suddenly intertwined hands and Sandy gave a nod of approval before heading off down the empty hallway, whistling a happy tune. He'd done all he could for his friends.

As the golden haired boy wondered off, Nick's blue eye's met Ana's violet ones and he smiled. "Well, we've got quite a bit of time to kill. Would you care to accompany me to the cafeteria for a hot chocolate?"

Ana laughed and nodded, giving his hand a tiny squeeze. "That would be lovely."

They headed down the hallway after Sandy with their hands still intertwined.

* * *

Jack stared down at his hands, which were clutched tightly in his lap, as blood rushed to his cheeks. He knew he could get out of the car and leave. In fact, that was probably the best thing for him to do, but he couldn't seem to move. He was terrified. Aster was going to know something was going on no matter what he did. Heck, Aster _already_ knew something was up. That's why he'd been avoiding being alone with him. Why, Sandy, why?

Aster, for his part, was annoyed at all of them. He was annoyed at Nick for being so care free, Ana for knowing too much, Sandy for doing whatever this was, and Jack… He was annoyed at Jack for ignoring him and acting like he hated him. He didn't know what was going on, but the past two days had made it very clear that the albino did _not_ want to be near him. Aster sighed. If he was honest, it was a good try on Sandy's part, forcing them together to talk it out. The only problem was, he had no clue what "it" was. He glanced over at Jack, taking in the red tint on the normally pale cheeks and frowned. "Why are you blushing?"

_Oh no_. Jack's gaze turned slowly from his hands to the face of his crush in horror. No, this couldn't be happening.

Realization stole over the Australian's face. Jack had been avoiding him. Jack had been acting all weird around him. Jack was, essentially, doing _exactly_ what Aster had been doing just a few, short weeks ago. Oh. "Wait, do you like me?"

_Frick. _Jack's blush only grew stronger and he began to babble. "Oh, God, Aster I, I'm so sorry! I'm trying not to, really I am. I didn't mean to fall in love with you! Please don't hate me I, I couldn't…"

Aster stared at him for a minute and then burst into hysteric laughter. Jack just watched him sadly. Of course Aster would laugh. What other possible response was there to someone so far beneath you loving you? At least he wasn't angry. Jack sighed, well, at any rate that got rid of any false hope. "I'm really sorry, Aster."

The tan teen stopped laughing at this and pursed his lips, clearly looking for the right words to say. Jack braced himself for the coming rejection, but kept his gaze trained on Aster. He'd take it like a man. Aster looked directly at him and opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out were stuttered words.

"Jack, I, uh, well that is to say that I… oh, bloody hell."

And then, Aster kissed him.

Jack's body acted of its own will and his hands suddenly found themselves clutching at Aster's shirt, pulling the Australian closer. Aster didn't seem to mind, though. He reached up and placed a hand against the back of Jack's head, wrapping tan fingers in snow-white hair, and pushed their lips together even tighter.

Aster's lips were the softest things Jack had _ever_ felt. _He smells like strawberries._

The thought made him giggle, breaking the kiss, and bringing them back to reality.

For the longest time they just looked at each other shyly and then Jack whispered. "I guess this means you don't hate me?"

Aster smiled softly. "I'm pretty sure it means the exactly opposite, mate."

And then, because it had worked so well the first time, he kissed Jack again.

Kissing Jack was nothing like Aster had imagined; it was a thousand times better. Jack was so much smaller than him and he felt so fragile, like glass, but so _incredibly_ soft. As they kissed, Aster felt that familiar urge to hold Jack close and keep him safe. An urge he finally let himself give into as he wrapped his arms around his crush and pulled him close.

When they broke apart again, Jack leaned against Aster's chest and sighed happily, closing his eyes and enjoying the feeling of two, strong arms wrapped around him as all the worries and terror melted away. He could get used to this.

Aster buried his face in Jack's hair and made a mental note to get Sandy a trip to Hawaii or something equally amazing.

Neither boy spoke, but they didn't need to. The answers to the questions were obvious, but finally, Aster asked one anyway. "So, do I get to call you my boyfriend now or do I have to take you on a date first?"

Jack snuggled closer to him. "Can't we do both? After all, you do owe me a valentines date."

Aster laughed and Jack loved being able to feel his _boyfriend's _chest shake as the wonderful, rich sound escaped him. "I think I can handle that."

They fell back into happy silence once more, content to simply hold and be held.

By the time they left the sleigh they were both very late for class, but neither of them cared in the slightest.

* * *

"Well, Mr. Bunnymund, so nice to see you've decided to join us."

Aster grinned at his teacher and murmured an apology before sitting down next to an amused looking Nick. As he took his seat, she began to teach once more, but Aster was too happy to hear a word she was saying. Jack like him. No, Jack _loved_ him! Jack was his boyfriend!

"So, how'd it go?" Nick whispered, giving him a knowing wink.

Aster grinned back goofily, his whole face glowing. "I am sorry for every bad thing I have ever said about that ruddy car of yours, mate."

Nick chucked. "I told you, _everyone_ loves the sleigh."


	18. An Art Room Encounter

Aster bit his lip as he concentrated on the paper before him. He was working on a sketch of Sophie playing in the snow, a valentine's day gift for her to hang up in her room.

A sudden weight on his shoulder drew him out of his drawing zone. Jack was leaning against him, happily reading a book and munching on a cookie. When had he gotten here?

"Sorry, was I ignoring you?" Aster asked, looping an arm around his boyfriend's waist.

Jack looked up from his book and smiled. "Kinda, but that's okay. You can go back to drawing."

Aster set down his sketchpad. "Nah, I can work on it later."

Then he noticed how sick Jack looked and his smile changed into a look of concern. He'd been too wrapped up in the moment earlier to realize just how bad the albino looked. "Jack, are you alright?"

Jack yawned and snuggling closer to Aster, but before he could reply a tray was slammed down on the table and they were staring into the fiercely gleaming eyes of Ana Romoli, "Details. Now."

Both boys turned crimson.

Ana laughed and sat down as Nick and Sandy took their places at the table. None of them touched their food. They simply sat, grinning, and waited.

"In case you can't tell, we're dating now and that's really all you need to know." Aster announced, holding Jack tighter and glaring at the rest of the gang.

Sandy clapped, but the others weren't letting them get away that easy.

"No way," Ana cried, "I've had to worry about you two for way too long to let you off that easy."

The blushes only grew.

Jack started to stammer out something, but then another yawn took hold of him and Aster got an idea. He rose to his feet, pulling Jack to his, and grinned at the gang. "Sorry, guys, Jack isn't feeling that well so I'm gonna take him to the nurse's office. It might take me a while, so I'll just take my stuff with me and see you guys later."

Jack didn't protest, but Ana jumped to her feet and grabbed Aster' bandana from his head.

"Hey!" He tried to grab it back, but Ana was too fast for him to catch.

"You can have it back when I get the full story from one of you."

The Australian was going to argue with her, but another yawn from Jack made him stop. He hadn't been kidding about taking Jack to the infirmary.

With an annoyed glare at Ana, Aster took hold of his boyfriend's hand and lead him away from the gang.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked.

"Like I said, the infirmary. The nurse will let you take a nap there during lunch as long as there's a free bed and you looked exhausted."

A brief conversation with the nurse later, Jack was laying down in a dark room, fast asleep, and Aster was leaning against the wall in the hallway outside, sketching away, waiting for his boyfriend to wake up.

* * *

Jack pushed open the unfamiliar door. He'd told Aster that he'd meet him in the art room after school, but he was oddly nervous now that he was here. The room inside was long and narrow, it's walls covered with paintings and shelves of pottery. Unfamiliar music was blasting from a radio by the door in which a pink ipod had been plugged. A group of teens were sitting around a table in the far corner, talking, and a single girl in a long, white smock was standing near the entryway, glaring at a painting with a paintbrush clasped tightly in her hand.

Jack cautiously approached the glaring artist and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face him, focusing all the frustration of her glower on him, before her face brightened into a pleasant smile. "Oh, hello! Can I help you?"

"Um, yeah, do you know where Aster is?"

She nodded and gestured towards a door at the back of the room. "I think he's in there, throwing."

Jack thanked her and she returned to glaring at the canvas before her as he walked across the paint splattered floor to the doorway she'd indicated. Inside the new room, Aster was sitting at a spinning pottery wheel, his brow furrowed in concentration as he carefully ran his fingers along the spinning, grey clay.

Jack smiled in relief at the sight of his boyfriend and stepped into the room, letting the door close behind him.

Aster didn't notice his audience. The music was too loud for him to hear the door and he was too intent on his pot to see anything else. As Jack watched, the Australian leaned close to his project to fix some minor detail and, suddenly, his hair was caught in the clay.

"Not again," he groan as he stopped the wheel and pulled the hair out, frowning at the indentation it had left in his pot.

Jack couldn't help but laugh, drawing Aster's attention to him. The tan teen smiled and brushed his hair out of his eyes with his arm. "You know, you're allowed to interrupt me working when you get here."

Jack grinned and walked over to his side. "I like watching you work. I got your bandana back from Ana, by the way."

Aster grabbed a rag and cleaned the clay off his hands before gratefully taking the blue cloth from his boyfriend. "Thanks."

He expertly folded the bandana into a headband shape and tied it around his head. "I always get my hair caught in the clay when I'm not wearing one of these."

Jack nodded, timidly shuffling his feet. This was the first time he and Aster had really been alone since that morning and it was making his heart race. "I think you look better when you're wearing one."

Aster started at the admission and laughed. "I do, too."

Then he looked down at his pot. "Well, I really don't care enough to fix this."

He squashed the clay down into a ball and grinned as Jack made an odd sound. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just, I thought it looked nice. It must have taken you a while to get it looking like that and then you squashed it!"

"It probably took me all of five minutes, actually. Throwing's really not that hard once you get the hang of it." Aster got up from the stool and motioned for Jack to sit down. "Here, I'll show you."

Jack shook his head furiously. "No, I don't think I'd be very good."

"Jack, if I can let you see me make a fool of myself on ice skates then you can let me teach you how to throw. Now, sit down."

Reluctantly, Jack took a seat before the potter's wheel.

"The first thing you need to do is wet your hands."

Jack dipped his fingers into the bucket of clay colored water sitting on the edge of the wheel's stand and Aster rolled his eyes. "Jack, I said wet your hands."

He demonstrated, leaning over and plunging his hands into the water so that they were fully soaked. Jack followed suit unenthusiastically.

"Now, start the wheel turning by pushing on that peddle by your foot."

Jack did so, watching as the wheel and clay began to turn.

"This is the hard part. You have to press your hands to the clay and center it on the wheel."

The albino did his best to follow the instructions, pressing his hands to the wet clay and trying to force it into a circular shape, but all he seemed to be doing was splashing wet clay onto his jeans. Aster laughed and wrapped his arms around Jack, placing tan hands on top of pale white ones, his chin resting on Jack's shoulder. "Here, like this."

Jack was finding it a little hard to concentrate on the lesson with Aster so close, but he did his best, allowing his boyfriend to guide his hands through the process. Together, they got the clay centered on the wheel and Aster began to guide him through the steps of shaping it into a bowl.

At first, Jack mostly just watched at adept, tan fingers pressed into the center of the clay, pulling it into the needed shape, but then Aster took Jack's hands in his and wordlessly showed him what to do. It was surprisingly easy and, soon, a crude bowl was spinning beneath their fingers.

Jack turned his head to look into Aster's green eyes, grinning at his success, and Aster smiled back. Then he realized just how close their faces were and, blushing, Jack closed the small distance between them, shyly pressing pale lips to rosy pink ones. Aster happily kissed him back.

The pottery lesson was forgotten as the two young lovers lost themselves in the kiss until the sound of an amused cough broke them apart. An unfamiliar woman in a loose, black jacket and paint splattered jeans was leaning in the doorway, smirking at them.

"Aster, who's the cutie?"

As Jack blushed crimson, Aster grinned at the woman. "Marie, this is my boyfriend, Jack. Jack, this is the head of the art department, Marie Crane."

She winked at Jack. "Nice to meet you."

While she entered the pottery room, Aster took his hands from Jack's and stopped the throwing wheel from spinning. "Well, that turned out interesting."

They all looked down at the pot. Sometime during the kiss the clay had been _slightly_ manhandled, making it lopsided. Aster didn't seem to mind, though, as he grabbed a long piece of wire and quickly drew it along the wheel, freeing the misshapen pot from the surface.

"What are you gonna do with it?" Jack asked curiously, his face still slightly red.

"I'm gonna fire it, of course." Aster explained as he grabbed a wooden tray and carefully placed their pot onto it.

"But it looks terrible!"

"On the contrary, I think it's the best piece I've made all day." Aster said with a grin as Marie laughed at Jack's quickly returning blush.

"Oh Aster, he's adorable! Why haven't you brought him around before?"

Aster placed the wooden tray onto a rack in the corner of the room and shrugged. "We kind-of just started dating today…"

As Marie made an understanding sound, Aster grabbed a damp towel and gently took Jack's hands in his, drawing his boyfriend's shy gaze from the floor. "Here, go ahead and clean off the clay with this. I'll take you to the washing room after I've finished cleaning up and you can get off the rest. Sorry, I'd meant to be done before you showed up, but I lost track of time."

"Actually," Marie said, "before you do that, I have a favor to ask."

The boys looked at the teacher curiously.

With a pleading look she asked, "Aster, would you be a dear and help me mix up a new batch of clay?"

The Australian seemed puzzled. "I just checked the supply, like, an hour ago. It looked like we had enough to last us until Monday's class when I was going to mix more."

"Well, we did, but then one of the idiots in my beginning art class decided it would be fun to play with the clay while I was getting paint from the supply closet. He didn't realize how much the clay bowl weighed and he spilled it all over the floor. We only just finished the cleanup and now I don't have any for class on Monday."

Aster grimace in annoyance and glanced at Jack, "You okay with waiting a bit longer to leave?"

Jack nodded and Marie beamed. "Thanks, Aster. I don't know what I'll do when you graduate."

"A lot more heavy lifting, that's for sure." Was the amused reply as Aster took Jack's hand in his and lead him from the room. Marie lead the way through the main art room to another side room full of heavy looking bags and several, large metal contraptions.

The Australian didn't bother to ask for instructions as he let go of Jack's hand and grabbed a bag off the floor, throwing it over his shoulder and Marie didn't offer any assistance. She simply stood by Jack and watched as Aster set the bag down by one of the machines and began to measure out powder.

Unsure what to do, Jack nervously asked the woman, "Shouldn't we help?"

She looked at him and grinned mischievously. "Sure, go ahead and grab that bag."

He tried to lift the beige bag with blue lettering she'd motioned to, but he couldn't budge it. "Wow, these things weigh a ton!"

Then Aster was by his side, easily lifting the heavy bag for him with an amused laugh. "I'll take care of it, Jack."

"Okay." Was the albino's embarrassed reply as he resumed standing by Marie, suddenly very aware of how his boyfriend had gotten his muscles.

The teacher placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I have trouble lifting those things, that's why I let Aster make the clay for me."

"That and she hates having to scoop the wet clay out of the mixer," Aster added as he poured grey powder into the machine.

"Guilty as charged."

"And you like it?" Jack asked, looking between the pair.

Aster nodded. "Yeah, it's why I got into throwing. Back in sixth grade, my art teacher broke his leg and wasn't able to mix clay so he asked me to help. I really liked doing it, so he let me help any time he needed to make clay from then on. When I got to the high school and Marie realized I knew how to mix clay she was more than willing to let me do it for her."

Marie nodded appreciatively. "I can do it when need be, but Aster's got a natural talent for mixing that sludge that I am sadly lacking. Those muscles of his definitely help, too."

Aster finished adding the powder and rose to his feet. "Now we just have to wait for the machine to mix it."

"How long does that take?"

"About twenty minutes, give or take," Marie replied with a shrug. "If you two need to go I can take it from here."

Aster glanced at the clock on the wall and pursed his lips. "We probably should. I have no doubt that Ana's waiting for us."

Jack nodded in agreement and the trio made their way back to the main room. Here, Aster and Jack rinsed the remaining clay from their hands and said goodbye to the teacher as they grabbed their backpacks.

Marie acknowledge the farewell and called after them, "Bring him around again, Aster."

Laughing at Jack's sudden blush, the Australian promised to do so as the couple entered the hallway and headed for the end of the building where an annoyed Ana was undoubtedly waiting.

* * *

When Ana saw Jack's jeans she let out a cry of dismay. "Jack! What happened?"

He looked down and realized that the once blue material was now covered in splotches of dried clay. "Oh, Aster showed me how to throw."

Ana glared at the grinning Australian as she cried, "Just because you're dating him doesn't mean you have to look like him, Jack! The paint and clay covered look is not a good one."

Aster winked at Jack as he replied, "Awe, Ana, I thought you'd find it cute. We were gonna bleach my hair to really pull off the look."

She made a face and headed out the door, into the chill, winter air. "Jack can pull off white hair. You, my dear, cannot."

Aster laughed and took Jack's hand in his as the trio left the building and headed towards Ana and Aster's neighborhood. As the two boys exchanged happy smiles Aster said, "Whatever you say, Ana. Whatever you say."


	19. Preparations

What had supposed to be an evening of basket painting had quickly turned into nap-time when Jack had fallen asleep on Aster's shoulder in the middle of painting a basket pastel blue. The Australian didn't mind, though. The basket could wait. For now, he was quite content to work solo and let Jack sleep. His boyfriend definitely needed the rest. With a contented sigh, Aster finished up the basket he'd been working on and laid it down beside him before wrapping an arm around Jack and resting his head on top of the smaller teen's snow-white hair. Soon, he too was fast asleep.

* * *

The surreal nature of a dream is often lost on dreamers, leading them to believe the strange land of nod is, in fact, reality for the duration of their stay. So it was for Jack, who didn't find it at all odd that he'd stepped straight from his bedroom to a courtroom or that he was cuffed to the witness stand. All he knew was that he was scared and no one seemed to be listening to him.

"You honestly expect us to believe that he broke his own leg?" The suited man asked.

Jack tried to explain, but another voice chimed in, cutting him off.

"What possible reason could he have for setting those booths on fire?"

"Because he..."

Before Jack could finish Ms. Black appeared, shouting, "I swear he was at home the whole time! That good for nothing is lying!"

He gave up trying to answer when the familiar specter of the counselor he'd been forced to go to after his parent's deaths stepped out of the crowd and looked at him sadly. "Jack's always been a troubled boy."

Through it all there was Pitch, the king of Jack's nightmare's, grinning through the bars of a cage as Jack begged to be believed. It was only when the verdict of innocent was announced and a laughing Pitch was freed that Jack woke up in a cold sweat.

As he breathed heavily and glanced about he noticed an odd weight on his head. He glance towards the source of the strange pressure and saw his boyfriend resting by his side. Simply knowing Aster was there made Jack feel better.

The motion woke the Australian and Aster slowly sat up with a yawn. Forcing a grin onto his face, Jack looked at his stirring boyfriend and whispered, "Morning."

Aster glanced up at his bedside clock and replied, "I think you'll find the proper greeting is 'good evening.'"

Jack checked the time, his forced grin changing into a real one. They'd been out for a good three-hours. "I guess you're right."

Then he noticed the half-painted basket laying on the ground beside him. "Sorry, looks like I didn't even finish my job before passing out."

Aster stretched and shrugged. "No worries, we still have well over a month to get ready and we're almost done with these bloody things. If we ever lose all the baskets in a fire again, convince me to just use shopping bags instead, okay?"

Jack laughed. "You know you care _way_ too much about Easter to ever do that."

Aster grinned. "True. Hey, you know what? I'm starving! How about you?"

The thought of food made Jack's stomach growl and Aster rose to his feet, chuckling.

"I guess that answers that question. Come on, let's go see what's in the kitchen."

It turned out the rest of the Bunnymund family had already eaten, leaving the teens to fend for themselves. To Jack's amusement, Aster rejected his mother's offer of leftovers, declaring he'd cook. The albino broke into merry laughter when he discovered "cook" meant spaghetti with premade sauce, but he appreciated the effort none the less.

Once dinner was done, Aster borrowed the car and drove Jack home, arriving at the Overland's house just a little after nine. After Aster parked the car, Jack leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before asking, "Do I get to see you tomorrow?"

Aster pretended to think about it before grinning and asking if Jack wanted to have their first official date the following evening. Another kiss and an enthusiastic agreement later, Jack was exiting the car and waving goodbye as his boyfriend drove off into the night.

Only after the car was gone did Jack allow his smile to vanish as he got out his key. Unbeknownst to the rest of the gang, the Overland's had left to visit Mr. Overland's mother earlier that day and wouldn't be back until Sunday, leaving Jack to take care of the house. What would normally be a dream come true to a teenage boy was now wholly unappealing. The Overland's absence meant Jack would be alone with nothing but his slowly worsening nightmares to keep him company.

A heavy sigh later he pushed open the door and entered the dark house with a nervous shiver. It was probably going to be a long night.

* * *

He was right. Jack spent the night waking up every few hours gasping for breath and trembling from nightmares full of flames, courtrooms, and Pitch's laughter.

In spite of the haunting dreams, Jack managed to get a few hours' worth of peaceful sleep in, leaving him moderately well rested the next day.

After a breakfast of toast and cereal he tried to work on the mountain of homework that he'd been avoiding, but he soon gave up. All he could think about were his fears and his upcoming date. Focusing on the good, he decided that, if he couldn't study, at least he could try to look his best for Aster.

* * *

Aster stared into his closet hopelessly. T-minus seven hours to the date and he was already feeling nervous. Plus, as usual, he had no clue what to wear. With a weary sigh he took out the first shirt that caught his eye and held it up to his bare chest for a moment before casting it onto the floor. This was going to take a while.

* * *

Jack took one look in his closet and immediately rejected everything he owned. He wanted something special for this and he knew just what to do. He grabbed his phone and quickly punched in a few buttons before raising it to his ear. When a cheery voice picked up he asked, "Hey, Ana, wanna take me shopping?"

Her gasp of delight was all the answer he needed.

* * *

Aster stood before his mirror in dark-grey pants and a light-blue shirt for five seconds before smiling. Yes, this would do.

Then he turned to the side and the smile disappeared. No, what was he thinking? This looked horrible!

* * *

"Here, try on this!" Ana thrust an outfit into the arms of a laughing Jack with an excited smile.

The snowy haired boy nodded and made his way into the dressing room, soon returning to model the outfit: a black leather jacket over top of an ocean-blue polo shirt and black jeans. Apparently, Ana had decided Aster's idea of the "matching" look might actually have some merit.

She gave him an appraising look before stepping forward and unbuttoning the top few buttons of the shirt, transforming it into a V-neck. "There we go, perfect!"

Jack moved to stand in front of a mirror and spun around before grinning. "It's great, Ana!"

But Ana was shaking her head now, "No, no, I was wrong. We need to make one _tiny_ change."

"What?" Jack asked in confusion. He didn't see what was wrong.

"Those jeans are _way_ too baggy. They need to be a lot tighter."

For the first time since they'd started out on this little expedition, Jack blushed, but he let Ana lead him back to the jean rack without complaining.

* * *

Aster groaned and threw another shirt to the side. He was an artist for crying out loud! How was it so easy to make a breathtaking painting, but so impossible to pick out a single outfit? He glanced at the phone lying on his dressing table, briefly considering the idea of asking Ana for advice, before shaking his head in annoyance. He did _not_ need help for this….

Oh, who was he kidding?

With a groan, he grabbed the phone and punched in speed dial number one. Ana was never going to let him live this down.

* * *

Jack paid for his new outfit and the duo wondered back into the mall. As they passed the candy store, music suddenly blared from Ana's pocket.

"_Colors of the rainbow shine so bright! Every time I look into your…_"

Ana pulled her phone out and answered with a happy, "Hello!"

Whoever was on the other end said something that made her laugh and grin wickedly as she replied, "Of course I will!"

Jack watched with growing curiosity as she agreed to meet the other person "as soon as possible" with a sly glance in his direction.

When she hung up the phone he gave her a mocking pout and asked, "You're abandoning me?"

"Sorry, sweetie, I've gotta go and save the day for another desperate soul. I'll drop you off at home first, though."

Jack laughed and shook his head. "Nah, that's okay. It's not that far and I've got five hours to kill before Aster picks me up. A walk is just what I need to keep me busy."

Ana nodded and gave him a hug before rushing off towards the mall's parking lot. Jack watched her go with a smile on his face, only turning back to window shopping when she'd disappeared from view. He stopped short when his eyes caught sight of something wonderful and he quickly darted into a shop, emerging a minute later with a tightly wrapped bundle. Aster would love it.


	20. A Steamy Winter's Night

"Well, this looks like a disaster zone, doesn't it?"

Aster gave Ana a disparaging look, the effect of which was a bit lost by the fact that he was sprawled out on his floor amidst a sea of clothing with Sophie happily sitting on his belly.

"How long have you been at this, anyway?"

He groaned and closed his eyes, running a hand over his face as he replied, "Three hours, give or take?"

Ana laughed and walked across the discarded clothing to Aster's side. Sophie smiled up at her and greeted the blonde with a cheery "hi!"

"Hello, Sophie," Ana replied, kneeling down by the child. "Are you helping Aster?"

The little girl nodded and bounced lightly on Aster's stomach, making her brother let out a yelp of surprise at the sudden pressure changes on his abdomen. "Yep!"

Aster rolled his eyes. "If by helping you mean trying to get me to wear a costume then, yes, she's been very helpful."

When Sophie had wondered in to see what he was doing, Aster had hopefully asked her thoughts on the outfit issue. His desire for a repeat performance of the New Year's rescue had been dashed to pieces when she'd pulled out the clothing that made up his Halloween costume. She'd refused to choose anything else and had nearly cried when he'd told her he wasn't wearing it. This had led to him abandoning the clothing issue for the upset two year old one. She'd only calmed down when he'd given up and laid down on the floor in despair, thereby allowing her to take up her current perch.

Ana looked at the discarded pieces of Aster's Zorro outfit lying on the floor beside the sprawled out teen and grinned. "Actually, that's not a terrible idea. You did look quite good in that get up."

The look he gave her at this suggestion said everything Aster couldn't say out loud with his baby sister present and Ana got the message loud and clear.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Now, get up and let me look at you."

Aster sighed and lightly jostled Sophie. "Alright, you need to get up, Soph."

Sophie shook her head. "No!"

"Please, Sophie, I can't get up until you do."

Sophie just giggled and laid down on his chest, staring at him with pale-green eyes that were so similar to his own. Despite her insolence, Aster couldn't help but smile at her.

"Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy." He grabbed Sophie in his arms and jumped up, clutching her to his chest to keep her from falling. Sophie let out a cry of protest at her prisoner's escape, but it changed to a cry of laugher as Aster tickled her mercilessly.

"Stop! Stop!"

He did so and kissed her forehead before setting her down on the ground. "That'll teach ya to try and trap me!"

Sophie stuck her tongue out at her sibling and ran from the room before he could tickle her again, leaving Aster and Ana to the task at hand. After a good deal of bickering and several threats, they mutually agreed upon an outfit of dark-blue jeans, a white v-neck, a blue bandana, and his leather jacket.

As Aster modeled the chosen attire in the mirror Ana lounged on his bed and asked, "So, where are you taking him?"

"I was gonna take him to dinner at a little diner we went to a few weeks ago and then go see a movie."

Ana gave him a disapproving look. "Dinner and a movie? That's pretty stereotypically lame, Aster."

The Australian glowered at her. "And what would _you_ suggest instead?"

Ana leaned back, propping her arms behind her head as she pondered the question. "Well, the dinner idea is fine, but skip the movie."

"We can't just do dinner," Aster complained, sitting down on the end of the bed and looking at her expectantly.

"I know, just let me think for a minute!"

Ana closed her eyes and thought back to every chick-flic she'd even seen and every romance novel she'd ever read, but nothing from them hit her as right. Then she thought about Jack and what made him happy. Well, Aster, obviously, and the twins, but that wouldn't work. Snow? Jack liked snow…

"What about a walk in the woods?"

Aster looked thoughtful. "It is supposed to be a nice night."

"Yeah, wait, but what about the moon?" Ana asked, suddenly looking worried.

"The moon?"

"What phase is it in? You need to know if you're gonna have enough moonlight or not."

Aster shrugged and Ana rolled her eyes.

"That wasn't a rhetorical question, you know. Go look!"

Aster got up and turned on his computer. An internet search later he sullenly informed Ana, "It's almost the new moon, so that's a no to the moonlight."

Ana pursed her lips and thought for a minute, then asked, "Well, is it gonna be cloudy tonight?"

He turned around and glared at her. "I'm not your secretary, you know."

"Yes, but this is _your_ date, so start typing."

He did so without further complaint, actually looking a little embarrassed now. "It looks like it's gonna be clear tonight."

"Great! You can go stargazing."

Aster paled at the thought. "Ana, it's also gonna be, like, 20 degrees outside tonight and you want me to go lie around in the snow?"

"Just take along an extra thick coat or something. Unlike you, Jack _likes_ the cold."

She was right. Stargazing on a winter night sounded like an ideal Jack activity. Aster sighed and rose to his feet before heading out of his room into the hallway.

Ana leaned up off of the bed and called after him, "Where are you going?"

His reply of "To find the warmest coat we own!" made her smile.

* * *

Jack was sitting by the living room window, playing with his new jacket as he waited. Aster would be here any minute now. As the clock on the mantle chimed six a familiar, silver car pulled into the driveway and Jack's boyfriend got out. It was funny, but just the sight of Aster made him feel calmer than he had all day.

He smiled as he watched the tan teen take a deep breath and start towards the front door. The Australian was simply too cute for words when he got nervous like that.

With a pleasant sigh, Jack stood up and headed to the door, reaching it just as Aster rang the bell. He waited a moment before pulling it open and greeting his boyfriend with an excited grin.

Aster smiled back. Then he noticed Jack's new outfit and the happy smile changed into a puzzled one. "You look great, but when did you get a leather jacket?"

Jack laughed. "I let a certain fashion guru friend of ours take me shopping this afternoon."

Aster suddenly felt a whole lot better about letting Ana dress him, but he decided he was better off not mentioning their mutual source of fashion advice. Opting to lean down and kiss Jack's forehead instead.

"Well, she did a great job, as usual. Are you ready to go?"

Jack nodded and exited the house, allowing Aster to hold his hand after he'd closed the door. Together, they walked to the Bunnymund's car and got in.

"So, where are we off to?" Jack asked as Aster started up the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"I was thinking dinner and then a special surprise."

Jack's blue eyes sparkled with excitement. "A surprise?"

"Yeah, but you'll have to wait until after dinner to see what it is."

"That's no fun!" Jack complained as Aster switched gears and turned onto the main road.

"Maybe not for you," Aster relied with a wink, "but I'm gonna enjoy making you wait a great deal."

Jack pouted, but Aster could see that he was fighting a grin.

* * *

After dinner at Laura's Diner the couple got back into their car and Aster took off into the night. Jack had spent a good portion of the meal trying to figure out where they were going afterwards, but Aster had refused to tell. He hadn't minded the constant guesses, though. Jack had made a game of it and, more often than not, his guesses had been jokes meant to make Aster laugh. As they made their way out of town, though, the guesses became serious.

"You're going to murder me and hide my body in the woods?"

Well, mostly serious.

"I told you, you just have to wait and see."

Jack grew quiet as he watched the scenery pass by with growing anticipation. As Aster glanced over at his boyfriend he silently hoped that Jack liked this idea. If not, he could always blame Ana.

They reached an intersection and Aster pulled onto a snow covered dirt road, not noticing as Jack tensed slightly. The albino was remembering the last time a crush had taken him down a road like this. He looked over at Aster and took a deep breath to calm his sudden nervousness. Aster wasn't Pitch. He could trust Aster. He _did_ trust Aster. Jack involuntarily reached out and placed his hand on top of his boyfriend's tan one, taking comfort in Aster's warmth.

The sudden feeling of Jack's touch started the Australian bit, but when he realized what the feeling on his hand was he smiled. "We're almost there!"

Jack nodded, still working on calming his nerves as Aster pulled into what appeared to be a snow covered parking lot.

The albino looked out of the car and into the night before asking Aster. "Where are we?"

"We're at a biking trail my family goes for walks on every summer." Aster reached into the back seat of the car and pulled out two warm, winter coats. "Where better to take Jack Frost then on a walk through the winter woods? That is, if you want to. We don't have to."

Jack smiled before leaning over and kissing Aster on the cheek. "I think it sounds like a great idea."

Aster grinned and handed Jack the smaller of the two coats, a light silver one that looked almost feminine. "I didn't want to give anything away by telling you to bring a coat, so I brought along a smaller one that should fit you."

He conveniently left out the fact that his mother was the previous owner of the coat as his boyfriend accepted the offered piece of clothing.

Jack took off his leather jacket and shrugged on the coat. It was a near perfect fit. Once he'd zipped it up he looked over at Aster, who was just finishing putting on his own coat, and asked, "So, ready to go?"

Aster nodded and they exited the car. With hands intertwined, they made their way from the parking lot to the path's entrance. At first, they walked in total silence, enjoying the quiet magic of nature and the thrill of being so completely alone together. Then the trail passed by a little clearing and Jack pulled Aster from the path.

The Australian smiled and allowed himself to be dragged into the clearing. Once they were well away from the snow covered bike trail, Jack let go of Aster's hand and walked a little ways further into the clearing, staring up into the evening sky.

Aster was content to just watch as his boyfriend stood in the middle of the snow covered glade with his face turned towards the clear sky, surrounded by trees and glistening in the faint light of the stars. As he stood there, with starlight shining off of his white hair, Jack looked every bit the winter prince his fan club thought of him as.

Aster had thought of Jack as amazing, sexy, annoying, handsome, and a thousand other things, but never before had the words magical, enchanting, and ethereal crossed his mind. Now, though, they seemed to only words appropriate to describe the albino. Aster's inner artist was going nuts with the desire to capture the scene on a canvas, but he pushed aside those thoughts for now. There would be time for that later. Right now, there was an incredibly tempting winter sprite who was in desperate need of a kiss.

Jack jumped when Aster's arms wrapped around him, but as soon as he realized who it was he laughed and leaned into the warm embrace. His worries about being alone in the forest fading away as sweet thoughts of Aster swirled through his mind. Then he looked up into his boyfriend's bright green eyes and smiled as the distance between them rapidly closed and their lips met in a kiss.

It was a sweet kiss, like every other one they'd shared, but Jack needed more than sweet. He was sick of fear, of terror, of sleepless nights and Aster took those things away. Being with Aster made him feel like himself again. Kissing Aster filled him with a dizzying rush of good emotions and he desperately needed that now more than ever.

He wrapped his arms around Aster's neck and pulled him as close as possible, crushing their bodies together. Then he opened his mouth just a fraction and allowed his tongue to snake along his boyfriend's lips in a silent and desperate plea.

Aster loved the feeling of Jack in his arms and had been more than willing to allow his love to pull them closer, but the odd, silky sensation of Jack's tongue startled him. His shock translated into a loosening of his jaw which Jack took for an acceptance and he deepened the kiss.

Their first few kisses had been like a breath of fresh, spring air to Aster. Something wonderful that made excitement well up inside of him. This kiss was nothing like that. This kiss was the raw and all-consuming fire of a midsummer's heat wave. A blinding furry that drove away thoughts of anything else and left Aster's body trembling and his mind spinning. All he could think of was Jack and the extraordinary taste of laughter mixed with chocolate that was far better than any Easter candy.

Jack didn't know what he'd expected from his bold action, but it hadn't been this. Not this strange, heady rush that left him desperate for more as he tangled his pale fingers in Aster's caramel color hair and drew him closer, deepening the kiss even further. Aster tasted oddly spicy, like a strange, exotic dish and Jack was desperate to memorize the flavor.

They broke apart gasping, both of their eyes slightly glazed over and neither knowing what to say. Jack decided the best response to the silence was to leaned in and kiss Aster once more, but Aster pulled back, his breath more than a little shaky. "Jack, if you kiss me like that another time, I, I'm not gonna be able to stay standing."

Jack grinned, a wicked looking thing that made Aster's heart race even faster, and pushed the Australian backwards across the clearing until he was pressed against a tree. Then, Jack wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck and whispered softly, "There, problem solved."

He pressed pale lips to rosy pink ones once more, immediately picking up right where they left off, loosing himself in the rush that was kissing Aster.

They kissed for a long time, only stopping when Aster started to shiver from the growing cold. Jack grinned at his shivering boyfriend and placed a final, soft kiss on his rosy lips before taking Aster's hand in his and slowly guiding him back to their car. Neither spoke as they walked, but they continually exchanged soft, happy smiles the entire way.

Once they'd arrived back at the now cold car and had taken their seats inside, Jack leaned over and buried his face against Aster's neck, smiling into the chilled skin.

Aster turned the car on to get the heat working and then slowly began to stroke the back of Jack's neck, gently playing with the albino's snowy locks. The feeling of Aster's hand in his hair made Jack sigh contentedly. He was very tired from their activates. Who knew kissing took so much work?

"You ready for me to take you home?" Aster finally asked, gently leaning down and kissing Jack's hair as he did so.

The smaller teen nodded. "If you have to."

Aster chuckled and disentangled his hand from Jack's hair, letting his boyfriend's arms remain firmly wrapped around his neck as he drove them back to Narvon. Jack only let go when they reached the Overland's house.


	21. Of Dreams and Their Magic

_Good things often give us the best dreams…_

Jack was standing in a different woodland glade then before, no snow covered the ground here. It was warm, probably summer, and the moon was shimmering above him, bright and full. None of that matter, though, because he was kissing Aster again and it was incredible. This time, no cumbersome winter coats were getting in the way of the kiss. Aster was wearing a simple white shirt that clung to his muscled form and Jack was shirtless, allowing his boyfriend to touch his bare skin as they kissed passionately in the moonlight.

Their positions were reversed from last time, too. Jack was the one pressed against the tree by Aster's strong hands. He didn't mind, though. He liked this helpless feeling, being totally under Aster's control. It was intoxicating and made him weak in the knees.

Then, Aster stopped kissing him and his hands left Jack's body.

The albino opened his eyes. Aster was gone. He looked around, suddenly feeling scared, but he saw no sign of his boyfriend. As he stepped away from the tree to continue the search, strong arms encircled his waist and Jack gave a cry of surprise, but he was smiling again.

He turned to face his boyfriend, to kiss him once more, but he stopped when he saw Aster's face. Something was wrong. Aster looked like he was in agony and Jack didn't know why. He tried to speak, but no words came as swirling shadows surrounded them, blocking out the moon and enveloping the couple, hiding Aster from Jack's sight.

Despite the loss of his vision, Jack could still feel those strong arms around him and that scared him, because their grip was slowly growing weaker. When Jack tried to reached out and touch Aster's face he felt nothing but icy cold darkness.

The loosened grip suddenly strengthened and shadows vanished, but what was revealed made Jack want to scream. Gone were Aster and the woods. The walls of a cage and a smirking Pitch had taken their place.

With a cold chuckle, the ebony-haired teen pinned Jack's arms to his sides and kissed him.

Jack sobbed at the other's touch and tried to break away, to run, but he was powerless. All he could do was struggle and taste Pitch's harsh kiss. It tasted of blood.

When Pitch pulled back he was laughing and his dark eyes were gleaming with delight. Mockingly, he leaned down and licked away Jack's tears, making the albino shudder in revulsion.

Where was Aster? Jack was mentally pleading for his boyfriend to come back, to save him, but it was in vain. For, when Pitch suddenly spun him around, Jack found why his boyfriend hadn't come.

Now, he did scream as he stared at the sight Pitch had revealed. On the floor of the cage before him lay Aster's blood soaked form, a pitch black sword plunged through his heart.

Jack sunk to his knees, sobbing as darkness and Pitch's laughter surrounded him, dragging him into oblivion.

_…but, sometimes, they give us the worst._

Jack awoke with a gasp, tears streaming down his cheeks as his eyes darted wildly about his room. Everywhere he looked he saw shadows. Shadows that only reminded him of Pitch and the dream. He couldn't stay here.

He jumped out of the bed and ran from the room, down the stairs, and out of the door. He didn't even bother to put on shoes as he bolted into the night and away from the memory of the nightmare. He didn't care when the cold wind hit his sweat soaked skin, making him shiver as he fled the house. To the terrified teen the chilly touch felt like the caress of an old friend, bringing him back to reality and reminding him that it was just a dream, just a terrible dream, but he couldn't stop running. Not yet. He wasn't ready to stop. Stopping meant facing the terror of his dream. Running meant focusing on not falling, on picking streets at random, on moving. Running was the only thing keeping him from collapsing to the ground and sobbing.

Finally, he did stop and fall to his knees, placing his hands on the ground and gasping for air. He felt like throwing up.

A hand on his shoulder nearly made him scream, but he held it back as he turned his head and met the worried, golden eyes of Sandy.

"Sandy? What are you doing here?"

Sandy pointed to a large, beige, Arabian style house across the street from them and Jack understood. Of all the places for him to collapse it would be in front of Sandy's house, wouldn't it?

"Oh, I didn't know this was your street."

It felt strange to be having such a normal conversation when he felt like he was going to burst into tears or screams any minute, but Jack tried to concentrate on the real word and Sandy. He had to stay out of the nightmare.

Sandy was concerned. He could tell something was wrong with Jack, but he doubted the stubborn albino would admit to what it was.

Sensing Sandy's worry, Jack forced a trembling smile onto his face. "I was just out for a late night jog. I couldn't sleep and figured it might help."

Sandy gave him an incredulous look at the lie and pointed to Jack's body and then to his feet. It was only then that Jack realized that all he was wearing were his tight, brown pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. No wonder he suddenly felt so cold.

Suppressing a shiver he replied to the unasked question, "I… like running without shoes! Yeah, it gets you more in tune with the run, you know?"

Sandy rolled his eyes and held out his hand. With a defeated sigh, Jack took it and allowed the smaller teen to guide him across the street to his house. As they entered the warm home, Sandy made a motion for Jack to be quiet and the albino nodded.

The diminutive teen silently lead Jack through the house to a cream colored room with an inviting looking canopy bed in the center. Here, Sandy motioned for Jack to lay down, but the blue-eyed boy shook his head, backing away in fear. No, he couldn't fall asleep again. He couldn't chance another nightmare.

Sandy gave Jack a pointed look and motioned to the bed once more. Jack stared at the bed in terror and reached a decision. He could pretend to fall asleep and then leave after Sandy was gone. What other choice did he have? It wasn't like he could tell Sandy about the nightmare.

As Jack moved across the room and lay down on the bed, Sandy broke into a wide smile and hurried from the room. He returned a minute or so later with an old fashion CD player and a pair of comfy looking, white headphones.

Sandy sat down on the bed by Jack's side and placed the headphones on the albino's ears before beginning to fiddle with the CD player.

The snowy haired teen opened his mouth to ask what his friend was doing, but the golden eyed teen placed a finger to his lips and motioned for Jack to close his eyes.

With a defeated sigh, Jack did so as Sandy hit the play button. The sound of waves crashing against a shore and the cries if dolphins slowly started to escape from the headphones, mentally surrounding Jack in the noises of another world. The sounds were oddly calming and Jack found himself getting lost in the call of the sea. He was so tired and the soothing sounds were so inviting...

Soon, he was fast asleep, dreaming of dolphins, the ocean, and kissing Aster on a far off shore at sunset.

Sandy watched him sleep for a long time, making sure that Jack was alright, before smiling and leaving the slumbering albino to the first goodnight's sleep he'd had in weeks.


	22. Love Isn't Quite So Easy

When Jack woke up he immediately wished he hadn't. Aster was sitting at his bedside, sitting on a chair and sketching. As Jack quickly started to shut his eyes in hopes of faking that he was still asleep Aster glanced up from his sketch and their eyes met. Jack sighed and gave his boyfriend a forced grin. "Morning!"

Aster didn't smile back. He just looked worried and set his sketch pad to the side before moving to take a seat on the edge of the bed. The two boys sat in silence, Jack's grin fading and his gaze falling to his hands, which were currently folded in his lap, while Aster staring at Jack, until the door creaked open and Ana popped her head inside.

When she saw that Jack was awake she let out a sigh of relief and rushed into the room with Sandy following close behind. "Jack, you're awake! Thank goodness! We were starting to worry about you."

The duo stopped at the end of his bed and Jack glanced around the tiny congregation with his lips fashioned into an ashamed grimace. This was the last thing he'd wanted. He didn't want his friends burdened by his issues. As he sat there, feeling worse and worse under the worried gazes of the gang, Jack reached up to nervously scratch his head, only to find that the headphones Sandy had given him last night were still in place. Now that he thought about it, the faint sounds of the ocean and dolphin's laughter were still playing, he'd just tuned the noise out sometime during the night. He reached up and removed the headphones before handing them back to Sandy. "Thanks, Sandy. They really helped. That was the best night's sleep I've had in ages."

Sandy took the headphones back with a small nod, but the worried frown didn't leave his face as Aster finally asked, "Mind telling us how you ended up at Sandy's house in the first place?"

Jack sighed, his gaze falling back down to the sheets still wrapped around his thin form and his hands balling into fists. "I, I just had a bad dream, that's all."

Aster took one of his boyfriend's pale hands in his own and Jack uncurled his fist, letting Aster intertwine their fingers. The Australian didn't know what to say, but Ana took over for him. "Jack, we're your friends. You can tell us what's wrong."

Jack held onto Aster's hand tightly as he looked into her worried violet eyes and whispered, "I don't want you guys to worry about me. I'm fine, really. It was just a nightmare."

The terror in his eyes betrayed his lie and Ana shook her head, sitting on the white sheets by his feet. "Do you really think we're going to believe that?"

Jack tightened his grip on Aster's hand and shook his head.

Aster let out a frustrated sigh. "Jack, please, just tell us what's wrong!"

Jack looked up into the bright green eyes of his boyfriend and, suddenly, he wasn't in the bedroom anymore. He was back in that terrible cage, staring at Aster's lifeless corpse. He brought his free hand to his mouth as a terrified noise, something between a shriek and a sob, escaped his mouth. Aster's eyes widened at the sound and he immediately called out his boyfriend's name, bringing Jack back to reality.

For a few moments, Jack just stared at Aster with wild eyes and, then, he leaned forward and buried his face in Aster's chest as terrified sobs began to shake his fragile form.

Aster wrapped his arms around Jack, gently stroking the smaller male's back while Ana and Sandy exchanged pointed looks. With silent nods to Aster, the duo quietly left the room, allowing the couple to be alone.

Unsure what else to do, Aster simply held Jack and let him cling to his shirt as he cried until the tears were all spent and the albino was left trembling in his arms.

"Jack, please." Aster whispered the words, but they still held all the worry and frustration he was currently feeling.

With a defeated sigh the albino pulled out of the hug, revealing tear stained cheeks and blood shot eyes. "I wasn't lying. It was a nightmare."

Aster ran a hand along Jack's face, doing his best to wipe the tears away as he tried to figure out what to say. He wasn't good with these things. Luckily for him, Jack eventually continued without prompting.

"But this wasn't… it wasn't the first nightmare I've had as of late."

He wasn't looking at Aster anymore. Instead, his gaze had fallen back to the sheets. "I've been having… nightmares ever since, well, ever since the fire."

Jack's speech was choppy and halting, but he was able to force out the words. "At first they weren't, weren't so bad. They were just about reliving the fire. Then… then I found out about the trial."

A shiver ran through Jack at the admission, but he kept going, his voice barely more than a whisper. "That's when they got… bad. It used to be I'd only have a nightmare every few night, now… now I can't sleep without having one. And they're getting worse. Last night… last night was the worst one yet."

Aster watched as Jack's hands began to tremble harder and he fell silent, unable to continue.

They sat in tense silence for what seemed like hours until Aster couldn't take it anymore and leaded over, capturing Jack's lips in a kiss.

It was a short kiss, only lasting a second, but when he pulled back Jack was looking at him with clear eyes and smiling softly.

Aster reached up and ran a hand along Jack's face, glad to see his boyfriend smiling again.

Suddenly, Jack reached up and grabbed the hand Aster was brushing along his face, a strange determination coming into his eyes. "Did you drive over here?"

"Yeah, I brought Ana over about an hour ago."

"Okay." Jack took a deep breath. "Aster, will you take me back to the lake where you found me?"

The Australian stared at his boyfriend open mouthed before asking, "Why would you want to go back there?"

"Because I think I have to."

Not knowing what else to say, Aster started to ask another question. "Do you want the others to…"

"No," Jack cut him off hurriedly. "No. Just us."

Aster nodded tentatively and Jack kissed his hand.

"Can we go now?"

Another nod and Jack was climbing out of the covers and onto the floor. Aster looked his boyfriend over in silence before asking, "Don't you need clothes or at least shoes?"

Jack shook his head. "No. I need to do this now before I chicken out. Besides, I don't have a way to get into the Overland's house. I ran out of there in the middle of the night without keys and I slammed the door shut behind me.

"We could stop by my house or…"

"No. Please, Aster, let's just go."

With a sigh Aster held his hand out to Jack, allowing his boyfriend to pull him to his feet and to the door. There was no one to be seen in the corridor outside and Jack was in too much of a hurry for Aster to have time to find Ana or Sandy and tell them what was up. With a silent prayer that they wouldn't be too mad at him for doing this, Aster grabbed his jacket from the coat hook by the door, stepped into his shoes, and followed Jack out the front door to his waiting car.

* * *

Aster pulled the car to a halt and Jack silently exited through the passenger door. The ride to the lake had been conducted in silence with Aster doubting if he ought to be doing this the entire time. Now that they were here, he was really starting to regret saying yes to Jack's question. Jack had left the car, though, so he didn't have much of a choice anymore. With a worried sigh, he got out of the car as well and followed the barefooted albino through the snow covered forest to the edge of the pond where Pitch had left Jack tied up all those months ago.

As Aster watched in silence, Jack walked out across the ice, noiselessly coming to rest in the center of the lake. He stood there for a long while, just taking in the aura of the place where he'd almost died, before turning to face Aster.

The Australian had expected Jack to be crying or upset, but he wasn't. Jack was smiling at him, that hauntingly beautiful smile that had first made Aster realize his feelings. "I think this is where I fell for you, though it took me a long time to realize that."

Aster remained silent, shocked by the confession, and Jack continued, "I thought I was going to die. I was fighting just to stay awake and then, there you were, holding me. Suddenly, I knew that it was all gonna be okay. I should have realized that meant something special a lot sooner, but I didn't."

Jack turned back to look out into the snowy woods, away from Aster. "If you hadn't come, I don't know what would have happened. Maybe I would have never woken up and that scares me. This whole place terrifies me. I don't know why I felt I had to come here, but, but I'm glad I did. Being here with you, it's suddenly not as bad as I thought it would be."

Jack felt silent once more and he sat down on the ice before laying back and looking up into the winter sky. "Actually, it's pretty breathtaking, if you think about it."

Aster walked across the frozen water to stand by Jack's side. The albino didn't say a word, but he smiled when he saw his boyfriend above him. Aster smiled back and sat down by his side, looking out into the forest as Jack stared into the sky.

Only when Jack started to shiver from the cold did Aster speak. "Now, why exactly did you refuse to let me get you a coat?"

Jack laughed, strong and clear, and grinned at his boyfriend. "It made sense at the time, you know?"

"Not really," Aster replied oddly amused by the situation.

Jack merely stuck his tongue out in response before returning his gaze to the sky as another shiver ran through him and his teeth started to chatter. Aster rolled his eyes and grabbed Jack in his arms, holding his boyfriend close as he got to his feet. "Alright, you're coming back to the car with me and getting warmed up."

Jack didn't protest, simply curling up close to Aster and letting himself be carried back to the waiting vehicle. Once Aster had Jack situated inside he turned on the car and asked, "Ready to go back?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. I really should get changed and try to get to Burgess as soon as possible. I sort of forgot that I'm supposed to meet the twins around four to go shopping for Mrs. Bennett's valentines present. What time is it now?"

Aster glanced at the car's clock. "One forty-two. You know, I can drive you into Burgess if you'd like."

Jack straightened up in his seat a bit. "You don't have to."

"No, but I want to."

Jack smiled. "Well then, I'd really like that."

The matter settled, the couple drove back to Narvon and got Jack a fresh set of clothing from the Overland's house now that the couple had returned from their brief vacation. Neither boy spoke of what had happened at the lake, choosing instead to focus on other topics such as Easter, Sophie, and arguing over what music to listen to on the radio for the duration of the trip from Narvon to Burgess. Once they'd arrived there and Jack had been safely taken to the Bennett's house, Aster spent an uneventful three hours wondering around a small art supply store in Burgess and then sitting in a café, sipping on hot chocolate and sketching until Jack was done with his visit. The ride home consisted of more surface talk and, when Jack had been deposited home with a short kiss, Aster finally let all of his frustration and annoyance out by driving to a small park near his house and running on the snow covered track there until he was ready to collapse.

* * *

With a splat Aster slammed down the clay onto the wheel and began to work, angrily running well practiced fingers over the slippery surface, forming it into a pot. It was a beautiful piece, one of the best he'd done, but it brought Aster no joy.

"So, what exactly did that poor piece of clay do to you or is something going on?"

Aster started slightly and looked up into the concerned eyes of Marie Crane. With a sigh, he stopped the wheel spinning and turned to face his teacher. Sensing this was going to take a while, Marie sat down on the wheel stool next to Aster's as he started to talk.

"Have you ever been in a situation where you had no bloody idea how to deal with what some bloody whacker was going through and it drove you up the bloody wall? I mean, bloody hell, what am I supposed to do!"

Marie frowned, talking in Aster's angry glower and worry filled eyes. "I'm guessing this has something to do with a friend or yours?"

Aster nodded, his shoulders slumping. "I just don't know what to do."

Marie nodded and rested her hands on her knees. "You know, when I was twelve my best friend's mom got cancer."

Aster's anger faded to confusion, but Marie continued.

"I had no clue how to deal with her. Every time I was alone with her she cried or vented to me and I'd just sit and listen or make her something to eat. It was all I knew how to do. I felt totally useless. A few years back I met up with her for lunch and, while we were talking, she told me how I was the only thing that got her through that time.

"I don't know anything about your situation, but if it's anything like mine here's my advice: you're never going to understand what your friend is going through, but you don't have to. What matters is that you're there and that your friend knows you care."

She grinned at Aster as he thought about it.

"But I still _want_ to understand."

Marie sighed and leaned forward, placing a hand on Aster's shoulder. "That's the hard part, Aster, you can't. There will always be things that you just can't understand. I couldn't understand a parent having cancer, you might never get this. What you have to decide is if you can deal with not understanding."

Aster nodded as she got to her feet and headed out of the room. "Now, I have to go and make sure that the idiots in the acting class actually brought back the supplies they borrowed. Why we have to share with them is beyond me."

Aster chuckled as she left the room, only to fall silent when the door closed behind her. Could he deal with having to just be there? Could he deal with not understanding Jack? He honestly didn't know.


	23. Gifts from the Heart

For once, Aster wasn't sketching while he waited for the others to arrive at lunch time. He was sitting at their normally table with his arms laying folded on the plastic surface and his head resting on top of them, thinking. He'd been thinking all through his double period art with Marie and he was still thinking now. Over the past few hours his thoughts had ranged from kissing Jack, to the day Jack joined the gang, to Jack's smile, to holding Jack in his arms as the albino sobbed into his chest. No matter where his mind wondered, Jack was the central theme.

_Jack. I love you so much, but I feel so helpless when you cry… I just want to help you…_

"Hey, what's up with you?"

Aster's glanced to the side to find his boyfriend standing there, looking down at him with concern filled eyes.

_He's practically falling apart and he still finds the time to worry about me. God, Jack, you're amazing._

As these thoughts ran through Aster's head, Jack sat down by his side. Aster could see the worry growing in the albino's eyes as he remained silent, searching for the right words to say to answer Jack's question. Finally, Aster sat up, taking his head off of his hands, and smiled at Jack before leaning forward and resting his head against his boyfriend's shoulder. With a contented sigh he softly whispered, "You're really something else, you know that?"

After a moment of surprise, Jack smirked, looking down at his boyfriend's head as he asked, "Now, what's that supposed to mean?"

The flash of a camera going off interrupted Aster's response and the two boys looked over at the source of the light to find Ana grinning at them, a camera phone in her hands. She pushed a few buttons, sending the picture off to her computer in a text message, before handing the phone back to its owner with a wink.

"Thanks, Sandy, you're the best."

The golden haired boy was less than pleased with Ana, who had grabbed the phone from his hands the moment they'd seen the scene, and he took the offered gadget back with a glare.

Aster was blushing bright red now and he had quickly removed his head from his boyfriend's shoulder to yell at Ana the moment his brain processed what had just happened. "What was that for?"

Ana shrugged and sat down, taking a sip of her water before grinning at him and replying, "You have no clue how cute you two looked. Trust me, you're gonna want a copy of that picture."

Aster started to argue with her, but the feeling of Jack's hand gently wrapping around his drew his gaze away from the blonde and back to the boy at his side. Jack was smiling at him softly and the sight calmed the artistic teen down, draining away the annoyance and making him sigh. "Alright, I won't fight with her."

Jack nodded happily and started to eat his lunch with his free hand, still keeping his right hand firmly entwined with Aster's. It fascinated the Australian how easily Jack was able to calm him down with nothing but a simple touch. As Ana began to go on about how cute the two of them were, Aster made up his mind. _Maybe I don't understand any of the stuff you're going through, but I'm never letting you go._

* * *

Jack quickened his pace as he drew near the school. Ever since Sandy had given him a set of recordings to listen to at night he'd been sleeping much better. Gone were the bloodshot eyes and nervous twitches, but worry for the impending trial still plagued his waking thoughts. Six days. Six precious days until he had to take the stand and testify. Though that knowledge filled him with terror, he pushed those feelings as far away as he could manage. Today was valentine's day and worry could wait. The present he'd picked out during his shopping trip with Ana was safely tucked into his backpack, waiting to be given to his amazing boyfriend and Jack was nervously hoping that Aster would love it.

He reached the school parking lot and smiled widely as he hurried towards the waiting, cherry red jeep. When he opened the door to jump inside, though, he stopped. Aster wasn't inside the car. The others grinned at his confused expression and Sandy motioned for Jack to turn around.

The albino followed the instructions and found that his boyfriend was standing right behind him with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

Jack laughed. "Okay, I know you weren't there five seconds ago. How'd you do that?"

Aster wordlessly motioned to the car behind them and Jack rolled his eyes before leaning forward so that their faces were inches apart. "And you couldn't wait for me in the sleigh because?"

Aster smiled and ran a hand along Jack's face, making the albino shiver lightly at the warm touch. "Because I really can't hug you very well when I'm sitting next to you, ya whacker."

With a cheeky grin Jack replied, "I don't see how that matter's when you aren't hugging me right now."

Laughing, Aster wrapped his arms around Jack and pulled his boyfriend close as Ana sighed dreamily. It had taken a _lot_ of effort on her part to get Aster to agree to do this. He hated showing tender emotions around other people, but she'd insisted that it would be super sweet and that Jack would love it. As Jack threw his arms around Aster's neck and made a happy sound, Aster knew that, once again, Ana had been right. This was definitely a good idea.

When they pulled apart Jack was beaming like a noonday sun. He leaned forward and kissed the Australian on the cheeky before whispering, "Happy Valentine's day."

Then the smile transformed into a look of realization. "Oh, right!"

Jack took off his backpack and set it on the ground before bending down and unzipping the front pouch. "I almost forgot!"

He pulled out a present, messily wrapped in silver paper, and got to his feet. "Here, I got you this!"

Aster took the present from Jack's outstretched hands curiously and examined it.

"You know, you're supposed to unwrap it, silly." Jack sounded just a little nervous as he said this, making Aster smile. He couldn't help it, Jack was just acting far too cute for him to _not_ smile!

"I'm simply admiring your wrapping job before I do so. I didn't know it was possible to use this much tape on such a tiny present!"

Jack laughed and grinned as he shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, I've never had to wrap anything before."

Aster stopped examining the gift at the admission and looked at his grinning boyfriend in surprise before smiling softly. Somehow, the knowledge made the git even more special. The Australian didn't say anything as he started to unwrap the present and, when he'd revealed the item hidden beneath the silver paper, all he could do was laugh and lean forward to gently press his lips to his boyfriend's forehead.

Jack had gotten him a small, snow white, stuffed rabbit with an Easter egg wrapped in its arms. Aster could tell that Jack had repainted the egg by the fact that it was like no other Easter egg he'd ever seen. Instead of some spring time color or pattern, the ceramic egg was painted a soft, icy blue with a surprisingly well done outline of Australia traced in bright green.

Blushing, Jack explained. "It's a _jack_rabbit. So, you know, you can think of me when you see it. I know it's not the greatest gift ever, but I thought…"

Aster placed a finger to his boyfriends lips, silencing him. "It's great and I love it."

As Jack grinned with pleasure, Aster reached into his back pocket and took something out. Jack tried to see what it was, but his boyfriend kept the item held firmly out of his sight. "Nope, you have to close your eyes."

Jack gave Aster a tiny pout, but followed his boyfriend's command. As he stood there, waiting, he felt Aster's warm fingers brush against his neck, running some kind of cord along his soft, pale skin. When Aster's hand fell away, the cord remained. "Okay, you can look now!"

Jack's eye's fluttered open and he glanced down at his neck. Around it, on a short, almost choker length, black cord hung a simple, rectangular silver pendent, no bigger than a pencil's eraser.

Jack ran reached up and ran his fingers over the smooth, silver charm curiously before looking at his boyfriend with frosty eyes just begging for an clarification. Aster smiled, blushing lightly as he told Jack the meaning behind the gift.

"It's an Australian surfer's charm. When I was six years old my uncle took me to the beach for my first surfing lesson. I was absolutely terrible, but it was an amazing day and, at the very end, as we left the beach, we stopped at a little shop right along the boardwalk. The shop was full of all these different charms, hand made by the owner. My uncle told me that every real surfer wares one and he let me choose whichever one I wanted as my own. That's the one I picked." Aster motioned to the charm hanging around Jack's neck and continued. "I used to wear it all the time, but I stopped when the original chain broke. I'd almost forgotten about it, but then found it the other day when I was going through a desk drawer. I'd wanted to give you something special, and it seemed like the perfect choice. I think it's technically supposed to bring you good luck or something like that..."

Aster's voice trailed off and he nervously ran a hand through his hair, waiting for Jack to reply. Instead of saying something, though, Jack leaned forward and kissed Aster tenderly on the lips. When he pulled back he was smiling at Aster, his hands clasped around the surfer's charm, and his eyes glowing with happiness. He didn't need to say anything. The joy on his face told Aster everything the Australian needed to know, but Jack said it anyway. "I love you."


	24. A Nightmarish End to A Lovely Day

"Either go get a room or get in the car, okay?" Ana called to the couple, making Aster flush and Jack laugh.

The albino grabbed his boyfriend's hand and pulled him into the warmth of the sleigh as he replied. "Jealously is a most unbecoming trait, Ana."

She winked at them before turning the conversation to their Easter preparations. Jack and Aster had finally finished up the baskets the previous night and Ana had been working on the financial side since January. She started off by informing them that they'd been able to get a good amount of donations for the candy, but they'd have to buy most of the eggs with the small pool of funds left over from the Christmas fair. As she elaborated on the details, Aster listened to her closely while Jack curled up against his boyfriend's side and rested his head against the Australian's shoulder, playing with his new necklace and allowing himself to tune out the world and just think.

Yeah, Aster hadn't said it back, but Jack hadn't expected him to. He knew very well how Aster felt and would have been shocked if his boyfriend had actually said those three, special words in front of the whole gang. The fact that Aster loved him didn't really need to be said, because he proved it every day. The way he always put aside his artwork when Jack was around just so that they could talk, the way his whole face seemed to glow after a kiss, Aster loved him and Jack knew it. Still, it would be nice to hear him say it sometime.

"Jack?"

The sound of his boyfriend's deeply accented voice brought Jack out of his musings and back to reality. With a happy grin he looked up into the amazingly green eyes of his love and asked, "Yeah?"

"It's time to go to class silly."

Jack blinked in surprise before laughing and removing his head from Aster's shoulder. "Oops, sorry."

Aster smiled at him and got out of the jeep before holding a hand out to Jack. The albino gladly accepted the offered hand, allowing his boyfriend to help him from the car. They walked towards the building together, talking softly about how much they loved each other's gifts and what their plans were for after school. When they reached the school building where they always parted ways Aster leaned over and kissed Jack on his cheek before whispering, "I love you, too, Jack."

A silent exchange of smiles later they had parted ways and were off to class.

* * *

Ana watched Jack and Aster take off towards the building with a smile on her face. Jealous? Yeah, maybe just a little. It wasn't wrong of her to want something like they had, but she was still happy for them.

She reached to close the sleigh door, only to watch as Nick closed it for her, a nervous look on his face.

"What's up, Nick?"

With an almost forced grin he took a hand from behind his back and held out a single, purple rose that matched her eyes perfectly. He must have been hiding it on the floor of the sleigh under his coat.

As she stared at the rose, he coughed lightly before taking a deep breath and saying, "I know you've already got a Valentine and I have no intention of trying to take Baby's place, so would you consider being my date for dinner tomorrow night instead?"

Ana cautiously took the offered flower and gently sniffed the sweet fragrance. Nothing had happened since the day Sandy had shoved the two of them together, but she'd be lying if she said that the idea of going out with Nick hadn't been on her mind since then. Nick was her oldest friend. They'd been together since before her earliest memories. As she looked at her anxious friend, who was obviously waiting for an answer she smiled. Who better to give a shot at her heart than Nick? "I'd love to."

* * *

After school, Jack headed to the art room to meet up with Aster. As he entered the room the paint splattered form of Marie emerged from one of the many closest that lined the room, her arms full of paint and brushes. Without thinking, Jack immediately ran to her side to help carry the heavy load. She gladly handed some of the paint off to him with a pleased, "Thanks, Jack.

"No problem. Why were you carrying so much at once?"

"Because it's quicker that way and I'm looking forward to heading home today," she replied with a small chuckle.

"Oh, got any Valentine's plans?"

Marie set the paint down on a table and began to arrange it. "Of course. Go home, curl up with a good movie, my cats, and a cup of baileys and cream, then avoid the holiday like the plague!"

She started to take the paint from his hands and add it to the pile, but then she noticed the shocked look on Jack's face and started to laugh.

"God, I sound like a bitter old maid! I just don't like valentine's day at all. Call it a hang up from back when I was in high school. My boyfriend know he's not to even mention the event in my presence."

Unsure what to say, Jack simply smiled back and continued to let her take the paint from his hands. When the last bottle was gone, two, strong, tan arms wrapped around his waist and warm lips were pressed to his cheek.

"Hey. I was starting to worry when you didn't come into the throwing room." Aster whispered into his boyfriend's ear as Jack turned around in his arms to give the Australian a proper hug. "Sorry, I was just helping Marie with the paint."

Aster let go of Jack as the teacher finished up with her arranging and gave her a quizzical look. "What are you doing getting all that paint out of the closet?"

Marie sighed and gave the boys a pained look. "The drama club is once again borrowing some supplies from us. I told them I'd leave the stuff out on the table so that they didn't go messing up my closets this time."

Aster rolled his eyes and lead Jack across the art room. "I don't know why you don't just tell them no for once."

The teacher shrugged and finished arranging the supplies as Aster pulled Jack into the pottery room. A quick kiss later, Aster had grabbed an object wrapped in newspaper off of the shelf and was proudly handing it to Jack.

Curiously, Jack took the offered gift and unwrapped it.

"You actually fired it?" He asked with a laugh and Aster nodded, grinning.

"I told you it was one of my favorites."

The misshapen pot Aster and Jack had created on the albino's first visit to the room looked a lot better now that it had been fired and glazed. It had been painted into a winter scene of two young men standing close together on snow-covered ground, underneath the sprawling branches of a barren tree. Somehow, Aster had taken the lumps in the surface and transformed them into something beautiful. What had formally seemed like detriments to the piece, now gave a three-dimensional life to the tree.

Jack looked at his boyfriend with eyes full of love and wonder. "It's breathtaking."

Aster leaned forward and kissed Jack lightly on the lips before pulling back and grinning at the other teen. "And that's part two of your valentine's present."

Jack felt like crying. He did not deserve a guy like Aster, that was for sure. Instead of crying though, he pulled Aster back for another, far more passionate, kiss.

* * *

The magical power that had been a day focused on love had faded all too soon for Jack. When he got home from hanging out with Aster he found a message from the police about transportation to the trial and insuring his safety during this. His plans to go up to his room and daydream about his future with Aster were quickly replaced with a long discussion with his former foster parents about the trial. They obviously wanted to comfort him and make sure he was okay, but Jack didn't want to expose himself to them. Though thing had been getting better between them since the Christmas fair the Overlands weren't anything like his parents and Jack found the conversation more painful than pleasant.

Once they finally let him go he went up to his room and fell onto his bed, worries about the trial swirling through his mind. He was so busy thinking that he forgot to put on Sandy's headphone set as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

This dream started at his parent's graves. Jack was alone, laying flowers against the marble surfaces and whispering to the memories of his parents all about what had been going on in his life as of late. Then, the stones crumbled away into dust, making Jack jump to his feet in horror. All around him the seemingly endless dream graveyard was crumbling away to dust. Soon, nothing remained but an endless field of pale grey dust.

Jack started to run, trying to find an end to the pale wasteland, but none came. All around him a strange, liquid darkness was starting to make its way out of the rubble, forming itself into strange creatures that drove fear into his heart at the mere sight of them.

He glanced behind him to see a veritable army of the creatures following close behind him and Jack tried to run faster, but he ran into something firm and found himself falling to the ground.

He looked up from his new spot to find Pitch standing there, smirking down at him as shadows spun around him.

"Hello, Jack."

Jack made a terrified noise at the sight and tried to crawl backward, but the fear creatures were waiting there, keeping him from being able to escape Pitch.

The dark teen laughed at Jack's fear and leaned down. "What, afraid of me, are we?"

Jack tried to shake his head, to deny his terror, but this only made Pitch laugh harder.

He grabbed Jack and drew the weaker teen to his feet harshly. Jack struggled and tried to pull away, but Pitch was far too strong. "You're mine, Jack, and you can never change that."

Now Jack stopped struggling to glare up at Pitch, a small and worthless act of defiance that lasted only a second until Pitch pressed his lips to Jack's.

Pitch's kiss made Jack feel like someone was drawing a knife against his lips and the taste of blood that always seemed to come when their lips met filled Jack's mouth.

As Jack struggled to break the kiss he could feel Pitch's hands pulling at his shirt. No. No, this couldn't be happening. Please, anything but this.


	25. Sleepover

Author's Note: I'm alive! Sorry, gang. Two papers, a test, and some personal stuff kept me too busy to think let alone write last week.

* * *

Aster was sitting on a rock in the middle of the forest, sketching, with Jack leaning against his side, reading a leather bound book. Both teens were happy and peaceful, enjoying the warm summer sun and the presence of the one they loved. Suddenly, the sound of a piano drifted through the trees, dragging Aster's focus away from his sketch. He looked around, curious as to where it was coming from, but Jack didn't seem to notice anything.

"Jack, do you hear that?"

The albino looked up from his book as other instruments joined in. "Hear what?"

The music was growing louder and the world around him seemed to be growing dimmer. What was going on?

"Aster, what's wrong?"

He tried to answer the question, but his mouth wasn't working. Jack didn't seem to bothered by this, though. Instead he laughed and leaned over, giving his boyfriend a tiny peck on the cheek before saying, "It looks like you're waking up."

* * *

Aster opened his eyes with a groan, the last remnants of his dream slipping away as he returned to the real world. What had woken him up? Oh, his phone was ringing.

"_…hungry heart, the roving eye, have come to…_"

With a start, Aster recognized his boyfriend's ringtone and grabbed the phone. "Jack, what's up?"

At first, the only reply was labored breathing, making it sound as if Jack had been running. After a few seconds, though, Jack spoke. "I, I had another, another night… another… another bad dream."

Aster sat up, a nasty feeling worming into the pit of his stomach. "Are you okay? Do you need me to come over?"

It took even longer for Jack to reply this time and, when he did, it was barely more than a whisper. "Actually, I… I'm outside."

Aster turned around and pushed aside the curtain on his bedroom window. Sure enough, Jack was standing on the sidewalk in front of the Bunnymund house, wearing a ratty old, blue hoddie and brown pajama pants, nervously shuffling his feet back and forth, his eyes trained on the ground and his cell phone pressed tightly to his ear. At least he was wearing shoes.

"I'll be right there."

Aster jumped out of bed and slipped on a pair of sneakers before quietly hurrying to the front door. Here, he grabbed his winter coat and threw it on before exiting the house. A blast of cold air greeted him as he stepped outside, it's icy touch making him shiver. It was freezing.

As Aster hurried across his snow covered low to where Jack was waiting he could see that his boyfriend's cheeks were bright red and that the poorly dressed teen was shivering. How long had Jack been standing out here before he made that call?

It was only when Aster reached the other teen's side that Jack finally looked up from the ground. His eyes were full of uncertainty, but it didn't look like he'd been crying. He just looked terrified and cold. He started to say something that sounded worryingly like an apology, but then another shiver coursed through him and his teeth started to chatter.

Without further thought, Aster unzipped his coat and pulled Jack close, wrapping him in a hug and allowing his own body heat to warm the frozen teen. As he felt Jack snuggle closer to the warmth of his chest a light blush began to make its way across Aster's cheeks. In his rush, he hadn't thought to put on a shirt and now Jack was pressed against his bare skin. Trust his hormones to drag his mind to the worst possible places at a time like this.

Taking a deep breath and pushing aside the distracting thoughts, Aster leaned down and picked Jack up in his arms. The albino tried to utter some form of protest, but Aster made a tiny shushing sound. "Jack, you're frozen and I'm taking you inside before you get frostbite."

The shivering teen nodded lightly and whispered, "Okay," as Aster carried him across the lawn and through the front door.

Once inside, Aster carried Jack to the living room couch and gently set his boyfriend down on the leather surface. Jack didn't say anything as Aster removed his coat and shoes, laying them on a nearby chair and then turned back so that they were facing each other. As the bare chested Australian looked down at his trembling boyfriend his eyes filled with worry. "Jack, you need to take off that hoddie of yours. It's keeping you cold, not warm."

Jack wrapped his arms around himself, his eyes fixed firmly on his knees and Aster wondered if the smaller teen had heard a word he'd said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. I…"

Aster cut him off, kneeling down and placing a warm, tan hand over Jack's frozen lips. "No, what you shouldn't have done was go running off into the middle of the night in clothing that's meant for springtime instead of winter."

Jack squeezed his eyes shut at the chastisement, but they flew open and he stared at his boyfriend as Aster continued, "But you are always welcome wherever I am, ya whacker."

Seeing the look on Jack's face, Aster pulled back his hand and pursed his lips. "You don't have to look so surprised, you know. I'm your boyfriend. I wouldn't be dating you if I didn't like having you around. Even if it's one in the morning on a school day."

Jack smiled softy as another shiver shook his thin frame and Aster's eyes narrowed.

"Okay, either take that bloody hoddie off now or I'll take it off for you!"

Both teens looked at each other in silence for a moment, processing what Aster had just said, before Jack broke into quiet laughter and Aster turned bright crimson.

"You know I didn't mean it like that!" Aster said holding his hands before him in a gesture of innocence.

Jack was grinning now, a mischievous glint taking residence in his eyes and pushing away the fear. "Sure you didn't. Like you wouldn't take any excuse to see me with my shirt off."

Aster's blush only grew as he tried to figure out how to respond to that. Saying the idea of Jack shirtless wasn't appealing would be a colossal lie, but if he said that he did want to see it then he'd be playing into Jack's game. If he said he didn't then he'd be lying and what if that hurt Jack's feelings? He could say it like a joke? Yeah! He could joke that there was no way he'd…

The thoughts of how to respond faded away as Jack carefully grabbed the dark blue fabric with his frozen hands and pulled off his hoodie, revealing a lean muscled, hairless chest the color of moonlight. Aster couldn't help but stare as the thoughts he'd pushed away earlier came rushing back with a vengeance.

"Aster."

The Australian blinked, breaking his staring contest with Jack's abs, and looked into his boyfriend's eyes.

"Enjoying the view?"

Jack grinned as his boyfriend's blush grew even darker. The memories of the nightmare fading away for a moment as he teased the Australian. Then another shiver ran through him and Jack wrapped his pale arms around his chest to suppress it as the memories of the nightmare came rushing back.

Seeing Jack's smile fade and the terror returning to pale-blue eyes, Aster knelt down and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, holding him close. Jack still felt icy cold and Aster had to fight to keep his own shiver's at bay. "Jack, what's wrong?"

Jack didn't say anything, as he wrapped his thin arm around Aster's neck and buried his face in his boyfriend's shoulder, trying to fight away the images of Pitch towering over him and holding him to the ground as he… No! He couldn't think about what almost happened. At least he'd managed to wake up before the nightmare Pitch could go through with it.

Aster could feel Jack's trembling growing worse as he gently ran his fingers along Jack's back and did his best to ignore the fact that they were both shirtless now. "Jack, it's okay. You're safe."

They were the same words Aster's mother always used when Sophie cried and they seemed to work oddly well when it came to comforting Jack since the albino breathed a deep sigh and nodded against his shoulder. Aster took this as a good sign and continued to whisper similar words to the teen in his arms as he stroked Jack's back. After a while, Jack's shivering subsided and his skin no longer felt like ice, but the change was so gradual that Aster didn't notice. It was only when Jack pulled out of the embrace and brought his hands to rest in his lap that the artist realized how much better his boyfriend looked than when they'd entered the house. The rosy hue had left Jack's face and hands, leaving them their normal alabaster shade. Aster smiled at the sight, "Nice to see you back to your usual color."

Jack nodded as he began to twiddle his thumbs. "Thanks. I, I guess I should head back home now."

Aster's smile morphed into a frown, "What? No way. I'm not letting you head back out there after I just got you all warmed up again."

Jack looked up from his hands, his expression surprisingly hopefully. "You mean I can stay here?"

Aster nodded, his heart fluttering from the look Jack was giving him. "'Course you can."

The Australian rose to his feet, wincing slightly as he did so. Staying in that crouching position for so long had not been fun for his muscles. It was only when he reached his full height and held out a hand to Jack that he realized something: Jack couldn't stay in the guest room. When they didn't have company, his mother turned it into a storage room, meaning that the bed was covered in boxes and half-finished projects. That left only two options.

As he helped the smaller male to his feet Aster decided that this was one decision he was not going to be the one to make. "So, there's a slight issue with this sleepover thing…"

Jack cocked his head to the side, looking at his boyfriend curiously.

Aster gulped. Why did Jack have to look so cute right now? "You see, the only place you can sleep is out here or… or my room."

Now it was Jack's turn to blush. "Oh."

They fell into an awkward silence and Aster was just about to go and grab Jack a blanket when the smaller male whispered, "I, I'd rather stay with you."

Aster nodded mutely, eternally grateful for the fact that his parents wouldn't be up until well after the boys had left for school, and took Jack's hand in his. They quietly walked down the hallway to Aster's room and entered through the still open door, closing it behind them. Neither spoke, too busy fighting blushes as they crawled under the green sheets of Aster's queen sized bed and laid down back to back.

For a long time they laid like that, hearts pounding and faces flushed until Aster took a steadying breath and turned over, wrapping an arm around Jack's torso and pulling his boyfriend to his chest. With trembling hands, Jack reached up and wrapped his finger's around Aster's tan arm, letting his eyes fall closed as he snuggled into his boyfriend's embrace. The rapid pounding of his heart faded to a steady drum as his nervousness faded into a warm feeling of safety. Pitch couldn't touch him here.

Soon, Jack was fast asleep, a smile on his face. It took Aster a lot longer to join his boyfriend in dreamland, but he didn't mind being kept up. Watching Jack sleeping in his arms was well worth the sleep deprivation. He could get used to this.


End file.
